Detroit Area Study, 1964: The Measurement and Validation of International Attitudes

This data collection measures the feelings and attitudes of 558 adults in the Detroit metropolitan area about other nations and what should be done in the world in 1964. Respondents were questioned extensively about their sources of information, the media, their political activities, and their organizational memberships. They were asked about the quality of information they received from the news media, their knowledge of foreign affairs, their feelings about developing nations, the United Nations and its role in aiding political, social, and economic development in developing nations, United States' assistance to developing nations, the admission of communist China to the United Nations, effects of atomic weapons build-up on world peace, the United States' military-industrial complex, and disarmament agreements between the United States and Russia. Respondents were also asked to assess the goals that the United States should have in dealing with other countries, and the domestic sources of influence on United States' foreign policy. Information was also elicited on respondents' political activism, such as demonstrations, petition-signing, support of political action groups, voting behavior, and political party affiliation, and memberships and participation in clubs and organizations. Demographic variables specify age, sex, race, place of birth, nationality, education, marital status, religion, length of residence in the Detroit area, family income, occupation, place and length of military service, and foreign contacts. More information about the Detroit Area Studies Project is available on this Web site.