AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS (ABS)

NAME OF COLLECTION

General Social Survey (GSS)


OVERVIEW

The General Social Survey (GSS) was first conducted in 2002 and is intended to be repeated at regular intervals (currently four-yearly). The key objectives of the GSS are:

• to collect data from a range of areas of social concern and allow information to be connected in ways not generally available, for use in developing broad-based social policy
• to provide national and state level estimates, recognising state/territory responsibilities in many areas of social concern
• to regularly provide a general picture of the social characteristics of Australia's adult population
• to compare the circumstances of a wide range of population groups
• to measure changes over time.

Topics covered by the GSS include health and disability, housing, education, labour force, transport, crime, information technology, indicators of family and community involvement, economic items such as income, selected assets, liabilities and financial stress indicators, and demographic details. Data items within these topics are capable of being cross classified with Data Items Relevant to Migrants and Ethnicity.

Supplementary topics are included in the GSS which are subject to review and change for each survey cycle. Supplementary topics are intended to be a flexible component to provide specific detailed information on emerging issues. The 2006 GSS contains supplementary topics on social capital, voluntary work, visa category, mobility and access to service providers.


DATA DETAIL

DATA ITEMS RELEVANT TO MIGRANTS AND ETHNICITY

• Country of birth
• Year of arrival
• Main language other than English spoken at home
• Proficiency in spoken English

The 2006 GSS contains supplementary topics on visa category, mobility and access to service providers which collect the following data items:

• Visa category
  • Australian citizenship status, visa category, whether a temporary resident before becoming a permanent resident, and whether main applicant on visa application
• Mobility
  • length of time in current dwelling, number of times moved in last five years, length of time in previous dwelling, geographical area of previous, dwelling, tenure type of previous dwelling, reason(s) for last move, main reason for last move
• Accessing service providers
  • language difficulties when communicating with service providers, difficulty accessing service providers, type of service provider where difficulty was experienced
• Active involvement in social or support group in the last 12 months by type of organisation
  • sport or physical recreation group, arts or heritage group, religious or spiritual group or organisation, craft or practical hobby group, adult education other recreation or special interest group, ethnic / multicultural club, social clubs providing restaurants or bars, other social groups, no active involvement in social groups in last 12 months
• Proportion of friends of same ethnic background
  • all, most, about half, few, none, don't know.

OTHER DATA ITEMS COLLECTED

Data for the 2006 GSS were released from May 2007. The data are available in the form of a summary publication, General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 4159.0) and state/territory level data in spreadsheet format (cat. nos. 4159.1.55.001 to 4159.8.55.001). Survey microdata are available in the form of a basic Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) (cat. no. 4159.0.30.001) and an expanded CURF (cat. no. 4159.0.30.002).

Survey metadata are also available in the General Social Survey: User Guide, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 4159.0.55.002) which includes information on the survey design, survey content, survey processing, data quality and dissemination. The User Guide has attachments for the full list of data items available from the survey, the survey questionnaire and associated prompt cards. A CURF Technical Manual will accompany the GSS CURFs (cat. no. 4159.0.30.003).

Details of the data items and questions asked for the 2002 GSS are available in General Social Survey: Data Reference Package, 2002 (cat. no. 4159.0.55.001). The 2002 GSS supplementary topics collected information on the extent of computer and internet access, attendance at cultural and sporting events, and participation in sport or other physical activity.

The introduction of the GSS is one of the outcomes of the ABS Household Survey Review. Although the 2002 survey was the first GSS, some of the information collected had previously been included in a range of more specific ABS surveys. Full details including further information about the scope, output, collection history, availability of data and geographic details of this source are located in the GSS entry contained in the ABS Directory of Statistical Sources.

For further details on scope, geographic coverage, data availability and publications, methodology, classifications and concepts visit the General Social Survey entry in the Directory of Statistical Sources.

DATA AVAILABILITY

The Migrant Data Matrices provide a link to summary data on migrants from the General Social Survey. The data items included in each datacube are not exhaustive, but rather a selection of the data available. Care must be taken in comparing data from different collections presented in the Matrices due to differences in survey methodology, definitions and reference periods.

Additional data are also available in the publication General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 4159.0).

CONTACT DETAILS

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service.

Phone: 1300 135 070
Fax: 1300 135 211
Post: Client Services, ABS, GPO Box 796, Sydney 1041
Email: client.services@abs.gov.au and you will be contacted within two working days.