The Civic and Political Health of the Nation, [United States], 2002 (ICPSR 37047)

Version Date: Jun 6, 2019

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Principal Investigator(s):
Cliff Zukin, Rutgers University; Scott Keeter, The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press; George Mason University; Molly W. Andolina, DePaul University; Krista Jenkins, Rutgers University; Michael X. Delli Carpini, University of Pennsylvania

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37047.v2

Version V2 ()

  • V2 [2019-06-06]
  • V1 [2018-07-23] unpublished
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Summary

This study sought to describe the civic and political behavior of the American public, with a special focus on youth ages 15 to 25. Utilizing dual surveying methods, both telephone- and Internet-based surveys as their methodology, the researchers sampled 3,246 respondents in order to examine what specific civic and political activities citizens were engaging in and the frequencies of those activities. Political attitudes and behaviors included but were not limited to voting, volunteering and signing petitions. Researchers measured respondents' civic and political involvement with 19 Core Indicators of Engagement, including a combination of civic indicators, electoral indicators, and indicators of political voice.

The collection includes three datasets:

  1. National Youth Survey of Civic Engagement, Spring 2002: 396 variables for 1166 cases
  2. National Civic Engagement Survey I, Spring 2002: 266 variables for 3246 cases
  3. National Civic Engagement Survey II (Replication Survey), Fall 2002: 163 variables for 1400 cases

Demographic variables in this collection include: Education Status/Level, Gender, Age, Race, Ethnicity, Marital Status, Employment Status, Housing Type, Household Income/Household Demographics, Geographic Region, Religious Affiliation, and Political Affiliation.

Citation

Zukin, Cliff, Keeter, Scott, Andolina, Molly W., Jenkins, Krista, and Delli Carpini, Michael X. The Civic and Political Health of the Nation, [United States], 2002 . Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-06-06. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37047.v2

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Funding

Pew Charitable Trusts

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

State, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

Distributor(s)

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

2002-01 -- 2002-11

Date of Collection

2002-01 -- 2002-11

Data Collection Notes

  1. The P.I.-produced syntax file (contained in a .zip package) was not changed in any way by ICPSR. This syntax file includes logic for created variables in Dataset 3 - National Civic Engagement Survey II (Replication Survey), Fall 2002. This original file does not reflect any of the processing done by ICPSR.

  2. For more information on the Civic and Political Health of the Nation study, please visit the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Information can be found on:

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Study Purpose

The study's main goal was to understand and document the ways in which citizens participate in civic and political life. A second goal was to employ new measures of political and civic engagement in order to understand aspects of younger generations that may have been understudied. Third, the researchers wished to take a systematic look at what may be a new generation by including the "DotNets," to provide insight into the future health of the body politic by allowing a comparison of today's youth to their elders. Finally, a key component of this study was the development of a set of best indicators that would provide a reliable measurement of civic engagement.

Study Design

This study relies on two surveys - a national telephone survey and Internet probability sample of youth. The national telephone survey was a random digit sample of telephone numbers selected from telephone exchanges in 48 contiguous United States. The random digit aspect of the sample is used to avoid "listing" bias and provides representation of both listed and unlisted numbers. The design of the sample ensures representation by random generation of the last two digits of telephone numbers selected on the basis of their area code, telephone exchange, and bank number. Telephone numbers sampled were proportionally stratified by county and telephone exchange within county.

At least seven attempts were made to complete an interview at every sampled telephone number. The calls were staggered over times of day and days of the week in order to maximize the chances of making a contact with a potential respondent. All interview break-offs and refusals were re-contacted at least once in order to attempt to convert them to complete interviews. For the two youngest cohort samples, interviewers asked to speak with the household member between the ages of 15 and 25 or 26 and 37 who most recently had a birthday. Prior to interviewing respondents 17 and younger, interviewers asked for permission from the parent or guardian. For the cross-section, interviewers asked to speak with the household member 15 and older who had the last birthday.

The other methodology employed was an Internet based survey of 15 to 25 year-olds conducted by Knowledge Networks. Respondents completed a self-administered survey using an Internet Appliance provided by Knowledge Networks. The sample was stratified by education.

For more information on sampling stratification, reference the "Sampling" section.

Sample

Telephone Survey: The study included a nationwide sample of 3246 youth and adults, 15 years of age and older, during the period April 4 through May 20, 2002. Because the researchers' special interest was in youth, the two youngest cohorts were over-sampled (DOTNET, N=1001, Generation X=1000). A total of 604 Baby Boomers and 602 Matures completed the sample. The telephone exchanges were selected with probabilities proportional to their size. The first eight digits of the sampled telephone numbers (area code, telephone exchange, bank number) were selected to be proportionally stratified by county and by telephone exchange within county.

Internet-Based Survey: The survey of 15 to 25 year-olds was conducted by Knowledge Networks. Between January 29, 2002 and February 25, 2002, 1116 members of the Knowledge Networks panel who met the age requirements for inclusion in the study completed an on-line questionnaire. The sample was stratified by education, with one group consisting of those currently enrolled in high school (N=312), a second group comprised of college graduates and those with some history of college attendance (N=336), and a final group of individuals who did not meet the criteria for inclusion in the two previous groups (N=518).

Time Method

Cross-sectional ad-hoc follow-up

Universe

National Youth Survey of Civic Engagement, Spring 2002: People ages 15-25 in the United States

National Civic Engagement Survey I, Spring 2002: People ages 15 and over in the United States

National Civic Engagement Survey II (Replication Survey), Fall 2002: People ages 18 and over in the United States

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

Variables in this collection are related to The 19 Core Indicators of Engagement, a set of indicators developed by the researchers that serves as a measurement of civic engagement. These Civic Indicators, Electoral Indicators, and Indicators of Political Voice include:

  • Community problem solving
  • Regular volunteering for a non-electoral organization
  • Active membership in a group or association
  • Participation in fund-raising run/walk/ride
  • Other fund raising for charity
  • Regular voting
  • Persuading others
  • Displaying buttons, signs, stickers
  • Campaign contributions
  • Volunteering for candidate or political organization
  • Contacting officials
  • Contacting the print media
  • Contacting the broadcast media
  • E-mail petitions
  • Written petitions
  • Boycotting
  • Buycotting
  • Canvassing

Response Rates

The PEW Civic Engagement Telephone Interview had a response rate of 33.5%. This is a combined rate from the two field houses used: The PDS field house had a response rate of 38.7%, and the SRBI field house had a response rate of 28.8%

Presence of Common Scales

Several Likert-type scales were used.

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Original Release Date

2018-07-23

Version History

2019-06-06 The documentation has been updated to correct a typo in the name of one of the principal investigators.

2018-07-23 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:

  • Performed consistency checks.
  • Created variable labels and/or value labels.
  • Standardized missing values.
  • Created online analysis version with question text.
  • Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

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Weight

National Youth Survey of Civic Engagement, Spring 2002:

  • Use WEIGHT when analyzing the total sample.
  • Use POP_WT when converting sample percentages to estimates of the actual number of Americans age 15 and older.

National Civic Engagement Survey I, Spring 2002:

  • Use STEP1WT when analyzing individual age groups.
  • Use STEP2WT when analyzing the total sample.

National Civic Engagement Survey II (Replication Survey), Fall 2002:

  • Use WEIGHT when analyzing the total sample.
  • Use PWEIGHT when analyzing data from PDS.
  • Use SWEIGHT when analyzing data from SRBI.

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.