VAR CF0609 DO OFFICIALS CARE WHAT R THINKS COLUMNS 427 - 427 NUMERIC MD EQ 0 1952-1980, 1982, 1992 intro: Now I'd like to read some of the kinds of things people tell us when we interview them. Please tell me whether (1992: and ask you whether) (1966,1988,1990, 1994-later: how much) you agree or disagree with these statements (1992: with them). (1988,1990: You can just give me the number of your choice.) (1992: I'll read them one at a time and you just tell me whether you agree or disagree) (1996 and later: The first is:) 1952-1988,1992: 'I don't think public officials care much what people like me think." 1990,1994-later: 'Public officials don't care much what people like me think.' ------------------------------------------------------------------- USE WEIGHT VARIABLE VCF0009/VCF0009A/VCF0009B. In 1952, the order of items appearing in VCF0609-VCF0618 was systematically varied. In 1988, the placement of this variable within Post question order varied according to questionnaire 'Form' (see VCF0012). The intro used 1952-1980,1982,1992 preceded the section in which several statements, including this one, was read; the order of statements may have varied from year to year. In 1966 this question was asked as a Likert Scale (i.e., strongly agree/ agree/ disagree/ strongly disagree) which was collapsed. Prior to 1988, response options were read to R. In 1988 and later, the response options were in the Respondent Booklet. Note: In 1988 and later, this question was asked with the following response options shown to R: agree strongly agree somewhat neither agree nor disagree disagree somewhat disagree strongly Therefore, especially due to the large number of responses in category 'neither agree nor disagree,' THE DISTRIBUTIONS 1988 AND LATER DIFFER DRAMATICALLY FROM PREVIOUS YEARS. Code 1 includes: 'strongly agree' and 'agree' from the 1966 data; 'agree strongly' and 'agree somewhat' from the 1988 and 1990 data. Code 2 includes: 'strongly disagree' and 'disagree' from the 1966 data; 'disagree somewhat' and 'disagree strongly' from the 1988 and 1990 data. 1. Agree 2. Disagree 3. Neither agree nor disagree (1988 and later only) 9. DK; not sure; it depends; can't say, refused to say 0. NA; INAP, no post IW (1968,1976,1980,1988,1992,1996); pre IW (1952,1960); form B (1986); question not used 1952: 118 1956: 115 1960: 114 1964: 177 1966: 118 1968: 520 1970: 147(type 0) 1972: 272 1974: 2225 1976: 3818 1978: 354 1980: 1033 1982: 532 1984: 313 1986: 549 1988: 938 1990: 508 1992: 6103 1994: 1037 1996: 961244 1998: 980524 ==============================