Prototype Internet Services for the General Social Survey

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This is a prototype Internet service for the General Social Survey employing NCSA Mosaic. The project will develop a system to provide enhanced access to survey data, using the General Social Survey for implementation of these integrated services, which will subsequently be extended to a variety of other survey data sets. These services will provide facilities for hypertext viewing and searching of complete survey documentation, customized and documented extracts from data sets, statistical analysis, and File Transfer Protocol delivery of full or extracted data sets. The General Social Survey is an ideal source of survey material to develop the system, because it is a highly diverse large dataset of complex structure, extensively documented in terms of publications based on each item, and has already been the basis of more than three thousand scientific publications and dissertations. The system developed on the General Social Survey will then become the standard not only for providing survey data over Internet, but also for research design and data collection in new surveys. %%% This project is part of the Digital Library Initiative, adding questionnaire survey data to the kinds of information that can be managed effectively over Internet and contributing to the national information infrastructure. Not only is the General Social Survey widely used in scientific research, but it has proven to be an excellent teaching tool at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Survey data are used extensively in government and commerce, so an advanced system for managing and distributing information of this kind will contribute to effective government and economic growth.