{
    "slug": "gss-religion-2024",
    "source_label": "GSS (2024) — Religion belief (postlife + god + pray)",
    "source_url": "https:\/\/gss.norc.org\/get-the-data\/",
    "license": "Public domain (NSF-funded, NORC at the University of Chicago)",
    "fielded_at": "2024-06-01",
    "methodology": "survey",
    "n_respondents": 3309,
    "disclosure": {
        "license": "Public domain (NSF-funded). Required citation: Davern, Michael; Bautista, Rene; Freese, Jeremy; Herd, Pamela; and Morgan, Stephen L. General Social Survey 1972-2024. NORC ed., Chicago, 2025.",
        "weights": "Weighted to wtssps (NORC's recommended GSS 2024 post-stratification weight, person-level). Published 1-5 means are the weighted raw means after each item's specific remap. The pray item is INVERTED in the codebook (raw 1 = highest prayer frequency = strongest religiosity); the SSR axis convention is always higher = stronger belief, so pray's rescale flips the raw direction.",
        "screener": "GSS uses an address-based national probability sample of U.S. adults 18+. The 2024 cross-section ran mixed-mode (in-person + web push). No content screener. Sampling frame and selection probability are documented in the GSS 2024 Codebook R3 (NORC). pray runs on the full ballot share (n=3,269); god and postlife sit on smaller ballot shares (god n=2,160, postlife n=1,283).",
        "fieldwork": "United States, 2024 cross-section. Fieldwork March–November 2024 per the GSS 2024 Codebook R3 (page 1). Modes: in-person and web push (push-to-web for the subsample without prior in-person contact).",
        "coding_rules": "Closed-ended Likert, no FGI. No moderator guide. postlife has run since 1973, god since 1988, pray since 1983 — all three with the same stems and value labels. The pray item's INVERTED direction is a fixture-side convention: SSR axis stays consistent at \"higher = stronger\" by flipping the raw 6-pt during the rescale.",
        "likert_labels": "postlife — 1='yes' (high religiosity = SSR 5), 2='no' (low = SSR 1). god — raw 1='I don't believe in God' (least religious = SSR 1), 2='no way to find out', 3='some higher power', 4='believe sometimes', 5='believe but have doubts', 6='know God really exists' (most religious = SSR 5). pray — raw 1='several times a day' (most frequent = SSR 5), 2='once a day', 3='several times a week', 4='once a week', 5='less than once a week', 6='never' (least frequent = SSR 1) — INVERTED direction from god. Each item's weighting_notes spells out the per-item rescale.",
        "question_text": "postlife (codebook verbatim): \"Do you believe there is a life after death?\" god: \"Which statement comes closest to expressing what you believe about God?\" with the six options below. pray: \"About how often do you pray?\" with the six options below."
    },
    "questions": [
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_rel_postlife",
            "prompt_text": "Do you believe there is a life after death?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 4.291,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 4.208,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 4.375,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.527,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -1.691,
            "ground_truth_shape": "bimodal-asymmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "1_no_pct": 17.7,
                "5_yes_pct": 82.3
            },
            "n_respondents": 1283,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. Dichotomous: yes_share=0.823 → SSR=1+4·0.823=4.291. SSR 5 = believes in afterlife. Distribution keys are 1\/5 SSR anchors as weighted percentages."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_rel_god",
            "prompt_text": "Which statement comes closest to expressing what you believe about God? (1=don't believe → 6=know God exists)",
            "ground_truth_mean": 3.964,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 3.909,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 4.02,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.312,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -0.937,
            "ground_truth_shape": "bimodal-asymmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "3_some_higher_pct": 14.1,
                "6_know_exists_pct": 51.2,
                "1_dont_believe_pct": 5.8,
                "2_no_way_to_find_pct": 8,
                "4_believe_sometimes_pct": 5.3,
                "5_believe_with_doubts_pct": 15.6
            },
            "n_respondents": 2160,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. 6-pt ascending: SSR=1+(raw_mean-1)·4\/5. raw_mean=4.71 → SSR 3.96. Left-skewed — 51.2% at raw 6 ('know God exists') is the modal answer, with a long left tail (28% across raw 1-3 don't-believe \/ no-way-to-find \/ some-higher-power)."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_rel_pray",
            "prompt_text": "About how often do you pray? (1=several times a day → 6=never)",
            "ground_truth_mean": 3.27,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 3.216,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 3.324,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.572,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -0.291,
            "ground_truth_shape": "multimodal-symmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "6_never_pct": 21,
                "2_once_a_day_pct": 15.7,
                "4_once_a_week_pct": 6,
                "3_several_week_pct": 12.8,
                "5_less_than_week_pct": 13,
                "1_several_times_day_pct": 31.5
            },
            "n_respondents": 3269,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. 6-pt INVERTED descending: SSR=1+(6-raw_mean)·4\/5 (raw 1 = several times day = SSR 5 = highest prayer; raw 6 = never = SSR 1 = lowest). raw_mean=3.16 → SSR 3.27. Textbook bimodal-asymmetric — 31.5% several-times-a-day + 21% never, only 6% at once-a-week midpoint. SD\/skew chip and shape badge surface that the mean alone hides."
        }
    ]
}