ANES 1982 Merged Methods Comparison Study

This study is part of a time-series collection of national surveys fielded continuously since 1952. The election studies are designed to present data on Americans' social backgrounds, enduring political predispositions, social and political values, perceptions and evaluations of groups and candidates, opinions on questions of public policy, and participation in political life. In early 1982, the National Election Studies obtained additional support from the National Science Foundation for a systematic study comparing survey data collected through traditional methods (household sampling and personal interviewing) with data collected by random-digit dial (RDD) telephone sampling using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). This study took place in conjunction with the previously funded 1982 National Election Study of congressional elections. The broad purposes of the data collection were to permit the NES staff and user community to assess overall differences between the two data collection techniques in sample and measurement quality, and to carry out a series of additional methodological experiments concerned with question format, computer-assisted procedures, and survey organization. Telephone respondents were administered a somewhat abbreviated version of the in-person interview schedules, adapted for use over the telephone where appropriate. All interviews were conducted in the three months following the 1982 elections. In this collection, data from the Methods Comparison Project have been merged with AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION STUDY, 1982: POST-ELECTION SURVEY FILE (ICPSR 9042), in order to facilitate the work of those who wish to make comparisons of telephone and personal interview methods. The inclusion of personal interview data in the present dataset is not intended for substantive analytic use. An extensive introduction to the documentation provides essential information and cautionary notes for potential analysts.