GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION STUDY, 1984

     GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION STUDY, 1984


          The NES/CPS American National Election Study, 1984 was conducted
     by the Center for Political Studies of the Institute for Social
     Research, under the overall direction of Warren E. Miller. Santa
     Traugott is the Director of Studies. This is the eighteenth in a
     series of studies of American national elections produced by the
     Political Behavior Program of the Survey Research Center and the
     Center for Political Studies, and the fourth study to be conducted
     under the auspices of National Science Foundation grants (Nos.
     SOC77-08885 and SES-8341310) providing long-term support for the
     National Election Studies. Since 1978 the NES election studies have
     been designed by a National Board of Overseers, the members of which
     meet several times a year to plan content and administration of the
     major study components.

          Board members during the 1984 planning phase included: Ray
     Wolfinger, Chair, University of California, Berkeley; Richard A.
     Brody, Stanford University; Heinz Eulau, Stanford University; Morris
     P. Fiorina, Harvard University; Stanley Kelley, Jr., Princeton
     University; Donald R. Kinder, University of Michigan; David R.
     Mayhew, Yale University; Warren E. Miller, Arizona State University,
     ex officio; David O. Sears, University of California, Los Angeles;
     and J. Merrill Shanks, University of California, Berkeley.

          As part of the planning process, workshops may be held, a
     special planning committee appointed, a pilot study conducted, and
     stimulus letters sent to the members of the scholarly community
     soliciting their input on study plans.

          The 1984 Study Planning Committee included several Board members
     (Don Kinder, Chair; Richard Brody, Stanley Kelley, Warren Miller, ex
     officio, David Sears and Ray Wolfinger) and three other scholars,
     Stanley Feldman, University of Kentucky; Ethel Klein, Columbia
     University; and Steven J. Rosenstone, Yale University.

         The Planning Committee began meeting in February of 1983. A pilot
     study was carried out in the summer of 1983 for the purpose of
     developing new instrumentation for the 1984 Election Study. New items
     were tested on economic well-being, group identification, values,
     political participation and candidate affect. Data from the pilot
     study are available through the Inter-university Consortium for
     Political and Social Research (ICPSR 8178). Results from the pilot
     study were used by the Planning committee in formulating
     recommendations to the Board about study content for the 1984
     Election Study. (See Appendix D).