January 2008 Political Survey

DOI

10.17605/OSF.IO/H42VX

Citation

Kohut, A., Keeter, S., Doherty, C., & Dimock, M. (2023, August 25). January 2008 Political Survey.

Summary

The January 2008 Political Survey, sponsored by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,515 adults living in continental United States telephone households. The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research International. The interviews were conducted in English by Princeton Data Source, LLC from January 9-13, 2008. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is +/-2.9 percent. Topics include politics, policy, economic conditions, election 2008, issue priorities, U.S. elections/voters and George W. Bush.

The ARDA has added five additional variables to the original data set to enhance the users' experience on our site.

Data File

Cases: 1515
Variables: 126
Weight Variable: WEIGHT

Weighting is generally used in survey analysis to compensate for patterns of nonresponse that might bias results. The weight variable balances the interviewed sample of all adults by form to match national parameters for sex, age, education, race, Hispanic origin, region (U.S. Census definitions), and population density. The White, non-Hispanic subgroup was also balanced on age, education and region. These parameters came from a special analysis of the Census Bureau's 2006 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) that included all households in the continental United States that had a telephone.

Weighting was accomplished using Sample Balancing, a special iterative sample weighting program that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables using a statistical technique called the Deming Algorithm. Weights were trimmed to prevent individual interviews from having too much influence on the final results. The use of these weights in statistical analysis ensures that the demographic characteristics of the sample closely approximate the demographic characteristics of the national population.

Data Collection

Jan. 9-13, 2008

Original Survey (Instrument)

January 2008 Political Survey

Funded By

The survey was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Collection Procedures

Data collection is based on stratified, single-stage, random-digit-dialing (RDD) sample of landline telephone households and randomly generated cell phone numbers. The sample is designed to represent the total U.S. adult population and includes respondents from all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. The landline and cell phone samples are provided by Marketing Systems Group.

Sampling Procedures

The sample was designed to represent all continental U.S. telephone households. The telephone sample was provided by Survey Sampling International, LLC (SSI) according to PSRAI specifications. The sample was drawn using standard list-assisted random digit dialing (RDD) methodology. Active blocks of telephone numbers (area code + exchange + two-digit block number) that contained three or more residential directory listings were equally likely to be selected; after selection two more digits were added randomly to complete the number. This method guarantees coverage of every assigned phone number regardless of whether that number is directory listed, purposely unlisted, or too new to be listed. After selection, the numbers were compared against business directories and matching numbers purged.

Principal Investigators

Andrew Kohut, Director
Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research
Carroll Doherty and Michael Dimock, Associate Directors

Related Publications

'An Even More Partisan Agenda for 2008.' Published January 24, 2008 by the Pew Research Center