National Science Foundation Surveys of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology, 1979-2006: [United States] (ICPSR 28368)

Version Date: Dec 7, 2016

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Principal Investigator(s):
Jon D. Miller, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research; Linda Kimmel, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research; ORC Macro ; Tom Smith, National Opinion Research Center; Susan Carol Losh, Florida State University

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR28368.v1

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Summary

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Surveys of Public Attitudes monitored the general public's attitudes toward and interest in science and technology. The survey assessed levels of literacy and understanding of scientific and environmental concepts and constructs such as DNA, probability, and experimental methods, how scientific knowledge and information were acquired, attentiveness to public policy issues, and computer access and usage. Since 1979, the survey was administered at regular intervals (occurring every two or three years), producing 12 cross-sectional surveys through 2006. Respondents were asked how they received information concerning science or news (e.g., via newspapers, magazines, or television), what types of television programming they watched, and what kinds of magazines they read. They were also asked if they agreed with statements concerning science and technology and how they affect everyday living. Respondents were further asked a series of true and false questions regarding science-based statements (e.g., the center of the Earth is hot, all radioactivity is manmade, electrons are smaller than atoms, etc.). Additional topics included whether the respondent had a postsecondary degree, field of highest degree, number of science-based college courses taken, major in college, household ownership of a computer, access to the World Wide Web, number of hours spent on a computer at home or at work, and topics searched for via the Internet. Demographic variables include gender, race, age, marital status, number of people in household, level of education, and occupation.

Citation

Miller, Jon D., Kimmel, Linda, ORC Macro, Smith, Tom, and Losh, Susan Carol. National Science Foundation Surveys of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology, 1979-2006: [United States]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-12-07. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR28368.v1

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Funding

National Science Foundation (NSF, 0139458 and 0532943), Association for Institutional Research (AIR-SRS, 0086139), American Statistical Association (ASA/nsf, 0209274), American Educational Research Association (AERA, REC-0310268)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

Region

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

1979 -- 2006

Date of Collection

1979, 1981, 2001, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2006

Data Collection Notes

  1. This collection is related to ICPSR 4029 "National Science Foundation Surveys of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology, 1979-2001: [United States]".

  2. For further information please see the National Science Foundation website.

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Sample

1979 and 2006: probability area cluster samples. 1981-2001: multistage random digit dialing.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

All United States households 1981-2006 with landline telephones.

Unit(s) of Observation

individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Response Rates

Response rates ranged from 51 percent of those actually contacted (2001) to over 70 percent in the earlier surveys and in 2006.

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Original Release Date

2016-12-07

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Miller, Jon D., Linda Kimmel, ORC Macro , Tom Smith, and Susan Carol Losh. National Science Foundation Surveys of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology, 1979-2006: [United States]. ICPSR28368-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-12-07. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR28368.v1

2016-12-07 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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Weight

1979-2001: single combined weight gender ethnicity region 2006 General Social Survey - WTSSALL (see Appendix A of the General Social Survey codebook, ICPSR #36319, for additional information).

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Notes