Crossnational Reports
Articles comparing public opinion topics between the U.S. and other countries
Data Release 4 for the 2022 GSS Cross-section data, featuring a new multi-mode design, are now available. The additional data features expand survey paradata on interviewer characteristics, incentives, survey length, respondent selection, and the data collection design. We encourage users to review the documentation and consider the potential impact of the experiments and data collection approach on the survey estimates.
If you are interested in submitting new content for the 2026 GSS, the call for the 2026 GSS Module Competition is now available. The deadline is February 10th, 2025.
Smith, Tom W.; Schapiro, Benjamin D.
Secularization Around the WorldCrossnational Reports
This report examines how far secularization has advanced around the world. Unlike most studies of religion, it focuses on those at the secular or non-religious end of the spectrum. First, the report examines the size of the fully secular share of the population on 10 indicators of religious identifications, behaviors, and beliefs. For example, it looks at not identifying with a religion, never attending religious services, and not believing in God. Second, the rankings across the 10 indicators are combined to make an overall levels of secularism across countries. Third, reasons for the variation in secularism across countries are explored with particular focus on differences in the main religious tradition in each country. Finally, another method for assess the level of secularization is examined and compared to the 10-indicator method.
GSS years: 2018
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 36 Resources for Conducting Cross-national Survey ResearchCrossnational Reports
Cross-national survey research is a complex and challenging endeavor. Designing a reliable and valid comparative study is notably more difficult than constructing a single monolingual/monocultural survey. Besides the whole array of components that encompass total-survey error in one survey, there is a parallel set of comparison errors that apply in cross-national surveys. Likewise, comparative analysis is complicated by these comparison errors and even well-conducted comparative surveys may produce erroneous results due to failing to achieve functional equivalence at the design, collection, and/or analysis stages. Even locating cross-national data for secondary analysis can be a challenge. This note describes some valuable resources, especially those available on the web, which can assist in conducting cross-national survey research.
GSS years: N/A
Smith, Tom W., Son, Jaesok, & Kim, Jibum
CNR 35 Public Attitudes toward Homosexuality and gay Rights across Time and CountriesCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1980-2012
Smith, Tom W. Fu, Yang-Chih
CNR 34 The Globalization of SurveysCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: N/A
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 33 Surveying Hard-to-Reach Populations in Comparative PerspectiveCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 11, 2012
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: N/A
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 32 Beliefs about God across Time and CountriesCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1, 2012
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1991-2008
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 31 Cross-national Differences in Attitudes towards HomosexualityCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 5, 2011
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2008
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 30 Religious Change Around the WorldCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1972-2004
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 29 A Report on the 2006 ISSP Non-Response SurveyCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 2007
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 2006
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 28 Surveying Across Nations and CulturesCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1980-2010
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 27 National Pride in Specific DomainsCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 5, 2006
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1996, 2004
Smith, Tom W. Kim, Seokho
CNR 26 National Pride in Comparative Perspective 1995-96 and 2003-04Cross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 11, 2005
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1996, 2004
Smith, Tom W. Kim, Jibum Koch, Achim Park, Alison
CNR 25 Social-Science Research and the General Social SurveysCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 4, 2005
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1972-2004
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 24 Survey Non-Response Procedures in Cross-National Perspective- The 2005 ISSP Non-Response SurveyCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 2005
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 2006
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 23 Methods for Assessing and Calibrating Response Scales Across Countries and LanguagesCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 2004
The article examines the influence of response categories on the reported distribution of survey results based on pilot studies of response scale in the U.S., Germany and Japan. It also measures the intensity of response categories by using alternative response scales. In general, the comparison of U.S. and German, and to a lesser extent U.S. and Japanese, results on the agree/disagree and important/ unimportant scales indicate a close, but not perfect, correspondence between the scale.
GSS years: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 22 Constructing Cross-National SurveysCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 2002
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1972-2000
(no abstract provided)
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 21 Public Support for Governmental Benefits for the Elderly Across Countries and TimeCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 12, 2000
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1985, 1990
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 20 A Cross-national Comparison on Attitudes towards Work by Age and Labor Force StatusCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 12, 2000
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1998
Smith, Tom W. Jarkko, Lars
CNR 19 National Pride, A Cross National AnalysisCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1998
Stable, established, developed democracies have the greatest levels of national pride. Across almost all countries, national pride is lower for minorities and men and women have similar levels.
GSS years: 1996
ISSP 1995
Davis, James A.
CNR 18 System Cynicism in Twenty Contemporary NationsCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 8, 1997
The majority in twenty countries are more idealistic than cynical about their mobility regimes. Structural features such as region and position impact cynicism more than cultural or perceptual ones.
GSS years: 1987, 1992
ISSP 1987, 1992
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 17 Improving Cross-National Survey Research by Measuring the Intensity of Response CategoriesCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1997
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 16 Environmental and Scientific Knowledge Around the WorldCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1, 1996
Nations with a high per-capita GNP have a higher level of scientific and environmental knowledge than nations with a low per-capita GNP do. People with more education are more knowledgeable about science and the environment than people with less education are. People who are very religious are less knowledgeable than others.
GSS years: 1993
ISSP 1993
Porst, Rolf
CNR 01 Educational Aims in the USA and in the Federal Republic of Germany, A Cross-National ComparisonCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1984.
No significant difference was found in the evaluation of educational aims between the United States and Germany. Instead, one finds in both nations a clear similarity of values throughout different categories of respondents characterized by varying socioeconomic and demographic traits. Also, one finds the expected dichotomy of educational aims of conformity and of self-direction with similar ordering of items.
GSS years: 1982
ALLBUS 1982
Rasinski, Kenneth A. Smith, Tom W. Zuckerbraun, Sara
CNR 15 Fairness Motivations and Tradeoffs Underlying Public Support for Government Environmental Spending in Nine NationsCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1994
Countries with high levels of support for social services also support government spending on the environment. Pro-business values are associated with lower levels of support for environmental spending. The young and better educated support more environmental spending.
GSS years: 1990
ISSP 1990
Kalleberg, Arne L. Stark, David
CNR 14 Career Strategies in Capitalism and Socialism- Work Values and Job Rewards in the US and HungaryCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 9, 1993
Hungarians put more emphasis on economic incentives. Americans were more interested in promotions.
GSS years: 1989
ISSP 1989
Alwin, Duane F. Braun, Michael Scott, Jacqueline
CNR 13 The Separation of Work and the Family- Attitudes Toward Women's Labor Force Participation in Germany, Great Britain and USCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1, 1989
Recent trends indicate substantial changes in the labor-force status of women in western industrialized societies. Many studies indicate that shifts in sex-role attitudes have apparently accompanied these changes, but research has not focused on the specific conditions under which men and women approve of nonfamilial roles for women. Moreover, virtually no comparative research exists on this topic. In this paper, data for three western countries--(West) Germany, Great Britain, and the United States--are compared with respect to attitudes toward female labor-force participation. The data, taken from the 1988 ISSP (International Social Survey Program) module on the family, focus specifically on the conditions under which respondents approve of women working. Results indicate that the attitudes of both men and women reflect substantial preference for a primary familial role for women, especially when young children are present. Within-country patterns of predictable variation in attitudes are quite similar in the countries considered--attitudes favoring the labor-force involvement of women are associated with gender, labor-force experiences, schooling, and birth cohort. Between-country differences are in part explainable by normative differences in labor-force participation rates of women and perceptions of the suitability of child-care resources, but most of the country differences were unexplained by the factors considered and are thought to be due to unmeasured normative and institutional factors associated with the care and nurture of children.
GSS years: 1977, 1988
Funk, Walter
CNR 12 Family and Changing Sex Roles- Some Preliminary Findings About Sex Role Attitudes in Germany and the USCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 12, 1988
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1977, 1988
Davis, James A. Jowell, Roger
CNR 11 Measuring National DifferencesCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 10, 1988
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 10 Inequality and WelfareCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1989.
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1987
Davis, James A. Becker, J. W.
CNR 09 Attitudes Toward Free Speech in Six Countries in the mid 1980s - Australia, Austria, Great Britain, Italy, US, West GermanyCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 5, 1990.
Though all nations support rights for basic protests and oppose extreme action, they are inconsistent on where to draw the line and on what things they will and will not tolerate. Australians and Britons support non striking protesters, Americans tolerate racists relatively, Germans and Austrians tolerate revolutionaries meetings but not marches, and Italians tolerate strikes over revolutionaries and racists.
GSS years: 1985
ISSP 1985; Institute for Social Research, York University 1987; Institute for Sociological Research, Soviet Academy of Sciences 1988
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 08 The Ups and Downs of Cross-National Survey ResearchCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1988.
Numerical scales, dichotomous choices of answers, determining the strength of verbal labels, and multiple indicators partially solve measurement difficulties - which are due to cultural and linguistic differences - involved in cross-national survey research. Though these methods may complement each other, artifacts may still occur.
GSS years: 1987
ISSP 1987
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 07 Social Inequality in Cross-National PerspectiveCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1977, 1987
Davis, James A.
CNR 06 Beetas and Baytas- How Social Structure Shapes Attitudes in Britain and the United StatesCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 9, 1987
Britain is unambiguously secular and down market compared with America, and these characteristics affect attitudes and opinions similarly in both nations.
GSS years: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
ISSP 1985
Smith, Tom W.
CNR 05 The Welfare State in Cross-National PerspectiveCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1987.
(no abstract provided)
GSS years: 1985, 1986
Davis, James A. Becker, J. W.
CNR 04 British and American Political Attitudes in 1985Cross-National Report, Chicago, NORC
Although Americans and Britons have similar attitudes on some topics, British respondents were much more in favor of government programs and were consistently more negative than Americans about the responsiveness of government to citizens.
GSS years: 1985
BSA 1985; ISSP
Werner, Hagstotz
CNR 03 Is There a Legitimacy Gap- Discrepancies Between Government Policies and Public OpinionCross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 1, 1985
Unlike the U.S., one finds potential protestors among West Germans on the issue of increased defense spending, who are highly educated and hold a distrust for politicians. However, in the U.S., one finds the first signs of a development of a homogenous group of potential protestors among a majority of nonwhite persons who voted in 1980 for the maintenance of the social welfare budget, and in doing so felt a discrepancy with white voters and with governmental policy.
GSS years: 1980, 1982
Krauth, Cornelia
CNR 02 Attitudes Towards Women's Role -- A Comparative Analysis Based on the 1977 NORC General Social Survey (GSS) and the 1982 German General Social Survey (ALLBUS)Cross-National Report, Chicago, NORC , 9, 1982.
Germans and Americans show different patterns of support for various feminist items. In both samples, the younger, the better educated, and the never married groups showed changing attitudes towards a non-traditional view on key variables. Women were not more likely to support a non-traditional view of the role of women than men.
GSS years: 1977
ALLBUS 1982; Rainwater and Rain 1981; Statistiches Bundesamt 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982
