Communism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties Study, 1954 (ICPSR 7202)
Version Date: Feb 16, 1992 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Samuel A. Stouffer
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07202.v2
Version V2
Summary View help for Summary
This study surveyed two different samples of respondents: a cross-section national sample and a leadership sample, the latter of which included people occupying leadership positions in their communities, such as president of the bar association, mayor, chairwoman of a women's club, president of a large labor union, president of a parent-teacher association, and the chairpersons of the Democratic and Republican party committees at county level. These positions were selected according to the following criteria: they were easily identifiable, were of some influence in the community, and held some relevance to the content of the study. Both samples were interviewed using the same questionnaire. The survey examined reactions of respondents to the danger of a communist conspiracy inside and outside the United States and to the potential sacrifice of civil liberties because of the attempt by some to thwart the conspiracy. The questionnaire began with open-ended questions tapping respondents' general expectations and fears, followed by questions about their opinions on communism. The subject of an internal or external communist threat was then raised in this context. In addition, variables probed respondents' positions on issues relating to tolerance, conformity, and civil liberties. Demographic data include age, sex, race, religious preference, education, employment status, and occupation.
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Sample View help for Sample
Two separate samples were used in this study: a cross-section national sample, drawn by multistage probability methods, and a special sample of local community leaders. The leaders were chosen according to an arbitrary list of 14 leadership roles applied in each of the sample cities having a population between 10,000 and 150,000.
Universe View help for Universe
Part 1: United States adult population aged 21 and older. Part 2: Local community leaders in the United States.
Data Source View help for Data Source
personal interviews
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1984-06-20
Version History View help for Version History
- Stouffer, Samuel A. COMMUNISM, CONFORMITY, AND CIVIL LIBERTIES STUDY, 1954. Conducted by American Institute of Public Opinion and National Opinion Research Center. 2nd ICPSR ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and distributor], 1974. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07202.v2
1984-06-20 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:
- Standardized missing values.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
These data are freely available to data users at ICPSR member institutions. The curation and dissemination of this study are provided by the institutional members of ICPSR. How do I access ICPSR data if I am not at a member institution?