See Also
Printer-Friendly Codebook (PDF 121K)
Please note the PDF file contains weighted marginals; DAS provides unweighted marginals in its codebook.
The Codebook
The 2008 SETUPS dataset consists of 189 variables1 drawn from the American National Election Study described in Survey Research Methods. These 189 variables contain information about the attitudes, behavior, and characteristics of the 2,102 respondents who were part of both the pre- and post-election surveys. In addition to the 189 substantive variables, the dataset also includes respondent identification numbers and weights for each case, but these are not variables that users will analyze.
The 189 substantive variables are all categoric variables. To make the analysis simpler, we have recoded many of the variables in order to reduce the number of possible categories to a fairly limited number. No variable has more than seven valid categories.
The codebook contains information for each of these variables. To view the list of variables and the details for each one, select the "Browse codebook in this window" option on the main page of SDA. When the list of variables appears, you can click on any variable name, which will produce the codebook information. It does not matter whether you select the sequential or alphabetical variable list, as they contain the same information, just in different orders.
Most of the variables are relatively straightforward and need little additional explanation beyond what is in the codebook, but some variables require a more thorough explanation. See additional information on selected variables.
Also, please note that at the time of the preparation of this dataset and website, there were some variables that had not yet been completely processed by ANES. These are noted in the codebook and will be added as they become ready for use.
1The 189 substantive variables are grouped into the following categories:
- Voting Behavior and Related Items
- Political Involvement and Participation Items
- Media Exposure and Consumption Items
- Candidate Image Items
- Economic Condition Items
- Ideology Items
- Taxation and Budget Items
- Economic and Social Welfare Issue Items
- Social and Moral Issue Items
- Civil Rights and Race-Related Issue Items
- Foreign Policy and National Security Items
- General Political Attitudes and Orientations
- Demographic and Social Characteristics
