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VAR CF0614 IS GOVT TOO COMPLICATED

VAR CF0614    IS GOVT TOO COMPLICATED                                         
              COLUMNS 432  - 432                                              
              NUMERIC                                                         
              MD EQ 0

        'Sometimes politics and government seem so complicated that a person  
        like me can't really understand what's going on.'                     
        -------------------------------------------------------------------   
                                                                              
        USE WEIGHT VARIABLE VCF0009/VCF0009A/VCF0009B.                        
                                                                              
        SEE INTRODUCTORY TEXT OF VCF0609.                                     
                                                                              
        The order in which questions VCF0609-VCF0618 appear may vary from     
        year to year.                                                         
                                                                              
        In 1988, the placement of this variable within Post question order    
        varied according to questionnaire 'Form' (see VCF0012).               
                                                                              
        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 shown to R 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; depends; not sure; can't say, refused to say             
                                                                              
             0.  NA; INAP, no pre IW (1952,1960); no post IW (1968,1976,1980, 
                   1988,1992,1996); question not used                         
                                                                              
        1952:  125         1956:  112   1960:  111                            
        1964:  176         1966:  117   1968:  519                            
        1970:  146(type 0) 1972:  271   1974:  2224                           
        1976:  3817        1978:  353   1980:  1032                           
        1984:  314         1988:  939   1990:  510                            
        1992:  6104        1994:  1039  1996:  961246                         
        1998:  980523                                                         
                                                                              
                                                                              
==============================


Walter Mebane
Mon Nov 12 02:55:58 EST 2001