Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior, Spring 1976 (ICPSR 7544)

Principal Investigator(s): University of Michigan. Survey Research Center. Economic Behavior Program

Summary: This survey was undertaken to assess consumer sentiment and buying plans, as well as to provide information on retirement plans. Open-ended questions were asked concerning evaluations and expectations about personal finances, employment, price changes, and the national business situation. A series of questions addressed respondents' buying intentions for a house, automobiles, appliances, and other consumer durables, and respondents' appraisals of present market conditions for pu... (more info)

Series: Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior Series

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University of Michigan, Survey Research Center, Economic Behavior Program. SURVEY OF CONSUMER ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR, SPRING 1976. ICPSR07544-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Survey Research Center [producer], 1976. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2006-04-05. doi:10.3886/ICPSR07544.v2

Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07544.v2

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Summary:   This survey was undertaken to assess consumer sentiment and buying plans, as well as to provide information on retirement plans. Open-ended questions were asked concerning evaluations and expectations about personal finances, employment, price changes, and the national business situation. A series of questions addressed respondents' buying intentions for a house, automobiles, appliances, and other consumer durables, and respondents' appraisals of present market conditions for purchasing houses and other durables. Respondents were asked to give assessments of their financial status relative to the previous year, as well as their opinions of political leaders such as George Wallace, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Ted Kennedy, the freedom to make public speeches against democracy, the most important problems facing the country, racial integration, fuel cost increase, and their satisfaction with their income, health, standard of living, marriage, and their life as a whole. The survey also elicited respondents' feelings about their choice of presidential candidate in 1972, their political party identification, ideological leanings, their income tax filing and refunds, their anticipated age for retiring, retirement income and residence, and their car ownership and plans to buy a new one. Demographic variables include age, sex, race, marital status, education, occupation, employment status, and family income.

Subject Terms:   automobile ownership, automobiles, Carter, Jimmy, consumer attitudes, consumer behavior, consumer expectations, consumer expenditures, disposable income, durable goods, economic conditions, employment, Ford, Gerald, freedom of speech, fuel costs, household appliances, housing costs, income tax, inflation, interest rates, Kennedy, Edward M., national economy, personal finances, political affiliation, presidential candidates, price fluctuations, purchasing, Reagan, Ronald, recession, retirement planning, tax refunds, Wallace, George

Geographic Coverage:   United States

Time Period:  

• 1976

Date of Collection:  

• 1976-04--1976-05

Unit of Observation:   individual

Universe:   All families living in continental United States dwelling units, exclusive of those on military reservations.

Data Types:   survey data

Sample:   One respondent from each family unit in the dwellings sampled, usually the head of the family, or the wife. The dwelling units were selected by area probability sampling from 74 primary sampling units. For each dwelling unit in the sample, an interview was sought with a respondent from the primary family and from each secondary family (if any). The head of the family (usually the husband) was the preferred respondent, but the wife could substitute if the head was not readily available.

Mode of Data Collection:   face-to-face interview, telephone interview

Original ICPSR Release:  1984-05-11

Version History:

• 2006-04-05 This study has been updated from OSIRIS and now includes SAS, SPSS, and Stata setup files in addition to SAS (XPORT), SPSS portable, and Stata system files. The ASCII data for this study have been reformatted yielding 1,548 cases, 400 variables, and an LRECL of 570.

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