ALLBUS/GGSS 2008 (Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften/German General Social Survey 2008)

ALLBUS (GGSS - the German General Social Survey) is a biennial trend survey based on random samples of the German population. Established in 1980, its mission is to monitor attitudes, behavior, and social change in Germany. Each ALLBUS cross-sectional survey consists of one or two main question modules covering changing topics, a range of supplementary questions and a core module providing detailed demographic information. Additionally, data on the interview and the interviewers are provided as well. Key topics generally follow a 10-year replication cycle, many individual indicators and item batteries are replicated at shorter intervals.

Since the mid-1980ies ALLBUS also regularly hosts one or two modules of the ISSP (International Social Survey Programme).

ALLBUS/GGSS 2008 focuses on "Political Participation, Political Culture and Social Capital.” The main module includes questions on political attitudes, knowledge, participation and support, media use, interpersonal political communication as well as questions on trust and on social ties. Other topics are, for example, social inequality, gender roles, and national pride. Also included are the ISSP modules "Leisure and Sport" and "Religion III<br>1. Economy: assessment of the present and future economic situation
in Germany; assessment of present and future personal economic
situation; assessment of government responsibility for economic
situation.

2. Use of media: frequency and overall time of watching television;
frequency of watching news programs on public and private channels
respectively; frequency of reading a daily newspaper per week;
frequency of private Internet use; frequency of using the Internet for
political information.

3. Political attitudes political participation: support for more
adaptation of immigrants to German customs and practices, less
government interference in the economy, stricter measures for
environmental protection, legalization of same-sex marriages, equal
opportunities for men and women in occupational life, harsher
punishment of criminals, making social security government´s top
priority, redistribution of income in favor of the common people,
immigrants are good for the economy, military assistance in the war on
terror, respect for civil rights, the increasing openness of world
markets; political participation; party preference; confidence in
public institutions and organizations: public health service, Federal
Constitutional Court, federal parliament (Bundestag), city or municipal
administration, judiciary, television, newspapers, universities,
federal government, police, political parties, European Commission,
European Parliament; political interest; postmaterialism (importance of
law and order, fighting rising prices, free expression of opinions, and
influence on governmental decisions); self-placement on a left-right
continuum; placement of political parties on a left-right-continuum
(CDU, CSU, SPD, FDP, Die Linke (The Left), Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (The
Greens), NPD); likelihood of voting for different political parties.

4. Social capital: general trust in fellow men, family, friends,
acquaintances, and strangers; frequency of discussing politics with
friends, acquaintances, strangers, and family; membership status of
respondent in various clubs and organizations; informal social help;
frequency of spending time with colleagues from work, club members or
with friends; frequency and type of contact with neighbors (cf. also
9.) ALLBUS-Demography).

5. The political system and social inequality: perception of
individual influence on politics (political efficacy, political
alienation); gap between politicians and citizens; self-assuredness
with regard to political group work; too much complexity in politics;
politicians´ closeness to constituents; personal and average citizen´s
level of political knowledge; majority capable of working in a
political group; participation in the vote as a civic duty; support for
the idea of democracy; political support (satisfaction with democracy
in Germany); satisfaction with the performance of the federal
government. Statements on the legitimacy of social inequality:
inequality of income as incentive to achieve; acceptability of
differences in status; justness of social differences; evaluation of
equal educational opportunities for all.

6. Citizenships and country of origin: first, second, and third
citizenship of respondent and of spouse or partner; number of
citizenships of respondent and of spouse or partner; original
citizenship of respondent and of spouse or partner; country respondent
lived in when young; length of residence in Germany.

7. National pride: support of political attitudes like pride in
being a German, displaying national feeling freely, dictatorship better
form of government under certain circumstances, national socialism had
its good sides, Hitler would be considered differently without the
Holocaust, Germany is dangerously swamped by foreigners, foreigners
should marry among themselves, Jews have too much influence, Jews do
not fit into our society, attacks on asylum seekers´ homes are
understandable; pride in German institutions and German achievements.

8. Other topics: attitudes towards the role of women in the family;
self-assessment of social class; fair share in standard of living;
social pessimism and orientation towards the future (anomia);
identification with own community and federal state, the old Federal
Republic or the GDR, the unified Germany, and the EC.

9. ALLBUS-Demography: Details about the respondent:
citizenship (nationality), number of citizenships, gender, month and
year of birth, age, geographical origin, place of residence (federal
state, administrative district, size of municipality, BIK-type of
region), school education, vocational training, employment status,
details about current and former occupation respectively, affiliation
to public service, working hours per week (primary and secondary job),
supervisory functions, fear of unemployment, date of termination of
full- or part-time employment, status of non-employment, length of
unemployment, unemployment in respondent´s social environment, overall
health, marital status, respondent´s income, type of dwelling,
self-description of place of residence, frequency and type of contact
with neighbors, religious denomination, frequency of church attendance,
active role in church life, voting intention (Sonntagsfrage) and
electoral participation, attractiveness.

Details about respondent´s current spouse: citizenship (nationality), number of
citizenships, age, month and year of birth, school education,
vocational training, employment status, details about current
occupation, affiliation to public service, fear of unemployment, status
of non-employment.

Details about respondent´s steady partner: citizenship (nationality), number of
citizenships, age, month and year of birth, school education, vocational training,
employment status, details about current occupation, affiliation to public
service, fear of unemployment, status of non-employment, distribution
of household chores.

Details about respondent´s parents: school education of mother and father,
vocational training of mother and father, details about both parents´ occupation.

Description of household: size of household, number of persons older
than 17 in household (reduced size of household), household income.

Details about household members: family relation to respondent,
gender, month and year of birth, age, marital status.

Details about children not living in the household: number of children
not living in the household, gender, year of birth, age.

Respondent´s current memberships: current and previous membership in a
trade union, active work in trade union; membership in other
occupational organization, active work in such organization; membership
in a political party.

10. Data on the interview (paradata): date of interview; beginning and end of
interview; length of interview; presence of other persons during
interview; presence of spouse, partner or children during interview;
presence of other relatives during interview; interference of other
persons in the course of the interview; willingness to cooperate and
reliability of information from respondent; respondent followed
interview on screen; willingness to participate in on-line surveys or
other self-completion survey; participation in additional ISSP-survey;
details about respondent´s residential building and assessment of
respondent´s neighborhood; reachability of respondent; willingness to
participate.
Details about the interviewer: gender, age, school
education; identification number, length of experience as an
interviewer; number of attempts to contact the respondent.

11. Leisure time and sports (ISSP): time spent on various leisure
activities; use of leisure time to express real self, to strengthen
social ties; how much fun from various leisure activities; frequency of
using leisure time to make social contacts, to relax, to educate
oneself; how often bored, uneasy or thinking of work during leisure
time; sociability of respondent; desired distribution of time for work
and leisure activities; frequency of overnight stays away from home;
number of days taken off from work; most frequently played sport or
other physical activity; most frequently played game; importance of
various reasons for taking part in sports or games; two most preferred
sports on TV; how proud of German successes in sports; support of
various opinions on sports; participation in activities of various
types of associations or groups; general trust in fellow men; political
interest; factors limiting free use of leisure time; assessment of
personal happiness; overall health; height and weight; desired weight
change; self-classification on a top-bottom-scale; self-assessment of
character traits (abridged Big Five Inventory measuring extraversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to
experience); opinion on restricting the right to strike for different
occupational groups; opinion on making unemployment insurance elective;
opinion on eligibility for Hartz IV benefits (welfare) if partner can
provide or if there are private savings.

12. Religion III (ISSP): assessment of personal happiness; attitude
towards pre-marital sexual intercourse and marital infidelity;
attitudes towards homosexuality and abortion; assessment of the
distribution of roles in a marriage and attitude towards working women;
general trust in fellow men; confidence in institutions such as the
federal parliament (Bundestag), commerce, industry, churches, courts,
and schools; change of residence; influence of church leaders on voters
and on the government; evaluation of science; religion as source of
conflicts; opinion on the power of churches and religious
organizations; support for religious tolerance and legal equality of
all religions; social acceptance of other religions; freedom of
expression for religious fanatics; doubt or strong belief in God;
development of personal belief in God; belief in a life after death,
the devil, heaven, hell, and miracles; belief in reincarnation,
Nirvana, supernatural powers of ancestors; fatalism; cosmology, the
meaning of life and the Christian interpretation of life; church and
its rites unnecessary for contact with God; religious orientation of
father and mother; personal religious orientation and frequency of
church attendance in youth; religious orientation of spouse or partner;
frequency of church attendance of parents; frequency of prayer and
participation in religious activities; religious artifact in home;
frequency of visiting holy places; self-assessment of religiousness;
self-description as religious or spiritual person; religion and truth;
religion as guide and support in life; renewal of religious ties at a
turning point in life; superstitious belief in good luck charms,
fortune tellers, faith healers, signs of the zodiac and horoscopes;
self-classification on a top-bottom-scale; self-assessment of character
traits (abridged Big Five Inventory measuring extraversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to
experience).

13. Added value: Inglehart-Index; family typology,
classification of private households (according to Porst and Funk);
International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 1968, 1988);
occupational prestige (according to Treiman); Standard International
Occupational Prestige Scale (SIOPS, according to Ganzeboom),
International Socio-economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI,
according to Ganzeboom); magnitude prestige (according to Wegener);
occupational metaclassification (according to Terwey); class position
(according to Goldthorpe); Body-Mass-Index; transformation weight for
analyses on household level; east-west design weight.