ICPSR instructional subset

The Quality of American Life survey was conducted in July and August, 1971, by the Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research at The University of Michigan. The data were collected from a nationwide probability sample of 2,164 persons 18 years of age and older. The survey was designed to measure respondents' perceptions of their socio-psychological condition, their needs and expectations from life, and the degree to which these needs were satisfied. This subset contains eighty variables. The questions included in this instructional subset are representative of the major areas of the original, longer survey. The first several variables establish the respondent's social role. These background variables include education received, sex, age, marital status, religious preference, and occupational group. Next, several variables deal with the respondent's place of residence and attitudes toward that residence. Information on the length of time in the community and in the particular dwelling are followed by questions about the respondent's views toward the neighborhood. The study also asks the respondent for views regarding the adequacy of government activity. In a third section of the subset the respondent is asked to choose between a number of pairs of adjectives as best describing his or her life.