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Table 1.
Senate Election Study
Date of Study Study Name and ICPSR Study Number Design Features Number of Cases Number of Variables Special Content
November - December 1988; 1990; 1992. Senate Election Study (#9580) Over the course of three elections voters in all 50 states were interviewed by phone. The three cross-section samples were stratified by state; it was entirely RDD in 1988 and a dual-frame, combination listed and RDD in 1990 and 1992. By this design, data were gathered on citizen evaluations of all Senator seats at each stage of its six-year term. 1988:3145 1990:3349 1992:2759 TOT:9253 1902 This data collection, focusing on Senate elections, combines data from a three-part series (1988, 1990, 1992) of Senate studies. Over the course of these three elections voters in each of the 50 states were interviewed, and data were gathered on citizen evaluations of all senators at three stages of their six-year election cycles. Both survey data and contextual data for all 50 states are included. The survey data facilitate the comparison of House of Representatives and Senate races through the use of questions that generally parallel those questions used in election studies since 1978 concerning respondents' interaction with and evaluation of candidates for the House of Representatives. However, because of redistricting in the early 1990s, the congressional districts for the 1992 respondents could not be pre-identified. The survey instrument was, therefore, redesigned to some degree, cutting some of the House-related content for the 1992 survey. The 50-state survey design also allows for the comparison of respondents' perceptions and evaluation of senators who were up for re-election with those in the second or fourth years of their terms.



Table 2.
Presidential Nomination Process Studies
Date of Study Study Name and ICPSR Study Number Design Features Number of Cases Number of Variables Special Content
January 11 - December 31, 1984 Continuous Monitoring (#8298:3) Interviews were conducted by telephone throughout the year, with a total of 46 separate cross-section samples selected by a random digit dialing design, and an average of 76 respondents interviewed in each of the 46 sample weeks. Although the survey instrument was very much the same from one sample week to the next, some questions were deleted and others added during the course of the campaign, as issues became more or less relevant. Thirteen versions of the questionnaire were incorporated into this data file. 3496 718 Continuous Monitoring was designed to examine the impact of the election campaign on voters' perceptions, beliefs, and preferences. Respondents were questioned about their knowledge of the candidates' stand on the issues, about their own stand on the issues, and about their opinions and evaluations of the candidates.
January 17 - March 8, 1988; March 9 - March 27, 1988 The Presidential Nomination Process (Super-Tuesday) (#9093) Telephone interviews, RDD sample. Interviewing distributed over a 7 week field period which preceded March 8th, on which 16 states held a presidential primary. Brief reinterviews conducted immediately (2/3 in first week) after Super-Tuesday. There were 4 forms of questionnaires, determining the order in which the 8 candidates' names were presented to respondents. 2117 (1688 were re-contacted) 622 The pre-election wave for this data collection was in the field between January 17 and March 8, 1988. Questions include candidate recognition and evaluations, feeling thermometers and traits, assessment of each candidate's chances of winning his/her party's nomination and the November general election, attitudes on public issues, vote intention and choice, and respondent's age, race, education, occupation, labor union membership, income, and religious affiliation. Immediately following Super Tuesday, brief reinterviews were conducted that contained recognition and feeling thermometers on all candidates and traits of selected candidates. A full range of voting questions also was asked including: whether the respondent voted, in which primary and for whom, who the respondent preferred to see each party nominate for president, and who the respondent most wanted to see elected as president.



Table 3.
The NES Panel Studies
Years Study Name and ICPSR Study Number Design Features Number of Cases Number of Variables Special Themes
American Panel Study: 1956, 1958, 1960 7252 Empanelled cases were augmented in 1958 and 1960 with respondents selected in houses from which panel respondents had moved. Maximum of 5 interviews with each respondent; complete panels 1956-1958, 1958-1960, 1956-1958-1960. 1514 1007 Stability of partisanship and issue attitudes.
1972-1974-1976 Series File 7607 Panel was augmented in 1958 and 1960 with respondents selected in houses from which panel respondents had moved. Vote validation done for all respondents in 1977. Maximum of 5 interviews with each respondent. 4455 3100 Stability of partisanship, issue attitudes, system support; reactions to Watergate.
January, June, September, November - December, 1980 (The 1980 Major Panel File) 7763 (Part 4) The year-long Major Panel study encompasses 4 interviews designated P1, P2, P3, and P4, which together constitute an independent cross-section and three waves of reinterviews. - Interview P1 (wave 1) January 22 - February 25; personal interview; 1008 completed cases. - Interview P2 (wave 2) June 4 - July 13; personal reinterview; 843 completed cases. - Interview P3 (wave 3) September 2 - October 1; personal reinterview; 769 completed cases. - Interview P4 (wave 4) November 5 - November 25; telephone reinterview; 764 completed cases. Post-election re-interview (P4) was brief and by phone. Timing of waves corresponds to events in the election year cycle. [Note: An additional "Minor Panel" consisting of interviews in April with a post-election telephone re-interview is available only in the 1980 Integrated File (7763 Part 3)]. 1008 1990 Development of attitudes and evaluations of candidates during a Presidential election campaign.
1990-1991-1992 Full Panel File 6230 This data collection includes the 1990 data for all 1990 respondents and follows reinterviewing through 1991 Pilot/Panel reinterviewing and 1992 Pre-Post reinterviewing (1992 fresh cross-section cases are not included). Note: a 1990-1992-1992 Full Panel Supplement file is also available which contains field administration and nonresponse data. 1980 2348 The purpose of this panel study is to trace the fortunes of the Bush presidency, from post-Gulf War height to November election defeat, and to provide insight into the origins of the Bill Clinton and Ross Perot coalitions. It also allows the panel analyst to do a traditional assessment of panel attrition which is not possible with any of the collections mentioned above. In 1991, respondents were reinterviewed several months after hostilities in the Persian Gulf ended. The survey content consisted of a repeat of a subset of questions from the 1990 Post-Election Survey, and additional items especially relevant to the Gulf War. A number of contextual variables also are provided, including summary variables that combine the respondent's recall of his or her senator's and representative's vote on the use of force with that congressperson's actual vote. New pilot questions were also asked in areas such as gender, ethnicity, medical care for the elderly, and social altruism. The separate Supplementary Data file (6230 parts 3 and 4) provides coversheet, sampling and field information on all sample cases from the 1990 Post, including noninterview and nonsample cases.
1992-1997 Combined File 2407 The 1992-1997 Combined Datafile brings together for cases empaneled during these years (beginning with 1992 'fresh' cross-section cases) all publicly released variables from the following datasets: the 1992 Pre-Post Study, the 1993 Pilot Study, the 1994 Post-election Study, the 1995 Pilot Study, the 1996 Pre-Post Study, and the 1997 Pilot Study. To extract cases, the variable VPARTIC can be used; VPARTIC is a summary of each respondent's participation in studies 1992 through 1997. 2439 4650 Immigration and feminist consciousness; ethnica and racial stereotypes; securing electoral success for Clinton coalition and Congress; welfare reform and health care; issue importance and uncertainty; CSES content; social capital; the environment; meida exposure; 1996 contextual data.

*excludes 1996 detailed group variables found only in the raw ASCII data file (not in released SAS/SPSS system files; column locations found in codebook appendix).