ALLBUS/GGSS 1986 (Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften/German General Social Survey 1986)

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).

The main question module of ALLBUS/GGSS 1986 focuses education and cultural skills. It includes questions on attitudes towards education and the educational system, the respondents‘ personal education, the use of household appliances, everyday cultural skills etc.. Further topics are, for example, political attitudes, importance of life aspects, and attitudes towards abortion. Additionally included is the ISSP module "Social Networks."<br>1.) Importance of life aspects: family and children, work and
occupation, recreation and free time, friends and acquaintances,
kinship, religion and church, politics and public life, neighborhood.

2.) Education and cultural skills: general evaluation of educational
opportunities; importance of personal school performance for success in
life; expected importance of school performance in the future; level of
educational aspirations for one´s own children; most important
educational goals in school and in the family; age at graduation from
school; vocational training; year of vocational graduation; evaluation
of personal occupational training. Possession and use of technical
household equipment such as tape recorder, video recorders (VCRs),
personal computers, television sets, microwave ovens, calculators,
phones, and typewriters; car ownership; possession of driver´s license;
frequency of car use. Everyday skills such as dancing, taking pictures,
filling in tax forms, bike riding, performing repairs, reading a city
map and train schedule; foreign language skills; type and extent of
vocational and non-vocational further education; difficulties in
understanding instruction booklets, fine print, and consumer
instruction leaflets; ability to formulate correspondence with
administration; number of books bought and read in the last three
months; possession of a library card; library use; private
correspondence in the last six months.

3.) Political attitudes: 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; understanding of political events and
perceived possibilities of influence on politics; eligibility to vote;
electoral participation and recall of past vote.

4.) Other topics: assessment of the present and future economic
situation in Germany; assessment of present and future personal
economic situation; self-assessment of social class; attitudes towards
abortion.

5.) ALLBUS-Demography: Details about the respondent: gender; month and
year of birth, age; place of residence (federal state, size of
municipality, Boustedt-type of municipality); religious denomination,
frequency of church attendance; voting intention (Sonntagsfrage);
currently at school or university, general education, vocational
training and extended vocational training; employment status; details
about current occupation, length of employment, industrial sector,
working hours per week, length of commute; date of termination of full-
or part- time employment; gaps in occupational biography; details about
former occupation; length of unemployment; principal source of
livelihood; respondent´s income; marital status; marital biography.

Details about respondent´s current spouse: age; employment status;
employment status; details about current occupation; date of
termination of full- or part-time employment.

Details about respondent´s former spouse: age; details about current
occupation.

Details about respondent´s parents: general education and vocational
training of father and mother; father´s occupation.

Composition of household: household income; type of dwelling,
telephone.

Details about household members: relation to respondent; gender; month
and year of birth, age; marital status; income, German citizenship.

Respondent´s current memberships (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB,
blue-collar union), Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft (DAG,
white-collar union), Christlicher Gewerkschaftsbund (CGB, Christian
union), Union Leitender Angestellter (ULA, association of managers),
Deutscher Beamtenbund (DBB, public service union), farmer´s
association, trade association, Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie
(BDI), association of German industry), association of a liberal
profession, other occupational association; choral society, sports
club, leisure activity club, local history or community club, other
social association, association of German expellees or refugees,
charitable association, religious/church organization, youth or student
organization, political party, citizens´ action group, other club or
association).

6.) Data on the interview (paradata): presence of other people during the
interview; intervention of other people in the course of the interview;
willingness of respondent to cooperate and reliability of respondent;
length of interview; date of interview; gender of interviewer; age of
interviewer.

7.) Social networks and support systems I (ISSP): The following
questions were asked in reference to all immediate relatives of the
respondent: frequency of mutual visits; commuting time for visits;
frequency of non- personal contacts (phone and letter). Marriage or
pre-marital cohabitation with a steady partner; number of close friends
at work and in the neighborhood; gender of best friend; frequency of
mutual visits and commuting time; frequency of non-personal contacts;
designation of the two preferred contacts for help with shopping,
financial needs, problems in a partnership or depression, crucial
changes in life; frequency of these problems.

8.) Added value: International Standard Classification of
Occupations (ISCO 1968); occupational prestige (according to Treiman).