Detroit Area Study, 1983: Attitudes and Experiences in Detroit (ICPSR 9305)

Principal Investigator(s): Hasenfeld, Yeheskel; Zald, Mayer

Summary: This Detroit Area Study explored views on welfare as well as contact and experiences with government welfare agencies. The survey sought opinions on a gamut of welfare issues such as the level of government spending on Aid for Dependent Children, unemployment benefits, social security and food stamps, government aid to minorities and to communities losing industrial plants, whether government aid to the poor tends to make people lazy and dependent or helps to reduce crime and urban... (more info)

Series: Detroit Area Studies Series

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Hasenfeld, Yeheskel, and Meyer Zald. DETROIT AREA STUDY, 1983: ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCES IN DETROIT. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Dept. of Sociology [producer], 1983. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1990. doi:10.3886/ICPSR09305.v1

Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09305.v1

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Summary:   This Detroit Area Study explored views on welfare as well as contact and experiences with government welfare agencies. The survey sought opinions on a gamut of welfare issues such as the level of government spending on Aid for Dependent Children, unemployment benefits, social security and food stamps, government aid to minorities and to communities losing industrial plants, whether government aid to the poor tends to make people lazy and dependent or helps to reduce crime and urban unrest, whether farmers, veterans, and home-owners were deserving of government aid or tax relief, and whether the government should guarantee everyone a minimum income or provide medical care or college tuition to the needy or to everyone as a matter of right. Respondents were asked to report on their encounters with public welfare agencies, including reasons for the contact, number of contacts during the last year, pre-contact expectations about services that would be received, whether or not needed services were actually obtained, and satisfaction with the way their requests were handled. Other items covered by the survey are political identification, vote in the 1980 presidential elections, trust and confidence in the federal government, and opinions on waste and inefficiency in various federal government programs including protection of the environment and national defense. Additional information gathered by the survey includes number of children and adults residing in the household, household income and its sources, respondents' age, sex, race, marital status, religious preference, and income, and the education, employment status, occupation, and industry of respondents and their spouses.

Subject Terms:   cities, government spending, political affiliation, political attitudes, political participation, public assistance programs, public confidence, satisfaction, social attitudes, social issues, trust in government, welfare services

Geographic Coverage:   Detroit, Michigan, United States

Time Period:  

• 1983

Universe:   Adults ages 18 and older residing in households located in the Michigan counties of Oakland, Macomb, or Wayne.

Data Types:   survey data

Data Collection Notes:

The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.

The dataset contains a weight variable to combine the two parts of the sample.

Sample:   The sample consists of two parts. The first is a multistage area probability sample of housing units drawn from all of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. The second is a multistage area probability sample of housing units drawn from those tri-county block groups and enumeration districts for which the 1979 median household income was less than $10,000. In both parts, one adult aged 18 or over was randomly selected from each sampled housing unit. The first part of the sample has 523 respondents, the second has 159.

Data Source:

personal interviews

Original ICPSR Release:  1990-05-01

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