{
    "slug": "gss-trust-2024",
    "source_label": "GSS (2024) — Generalised social trust battery",
    "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). Each item's high-trust share is computed as (high_code_pct + 0.5 × depends_pct) \/ 100. The codebook's 'depends' option is included by design — dropping it shifts the means by 0.5–0.8 points and is not the historical NORC convention.",
        "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). All three items are on the same split-ballot (per-item n ≈ 940 of the wave's 3,309 total).",
        "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 forced-choice, no FGI. No moderator guide. Each respondent rates each item independently in the same wave. All three items have run since 1972 with the same stems and value labels; the 'depends' middle option is volunteered, not read.",
        "likert_labels": "trust — 1 = 'most can be trusted' (high-trust), 2 = 'can't be too careful' (low-trust), 3 = 'depends'. fair — 1 = 'would try to take advantage' (low-trust), 2 = 'would try to be fair' (high-trust), 3 = 'depends'. helpful — 1 = 'try to be helpful' (high-trust), 2 = 'just looking out for themselves' (low-trust), 3 = 'depends'. 1-5 SSR rescale: high_share × 4 + 1 with 'depends' counted as 0.5. Distribution keys are stored on the rescaled 1\/3\/5 SSR anchors — 1 is the low-trust anchor, 3 is 'depends', 5 is the high-trust anchor — so the same dispatch works regardless of which codebook code happens to be the high-trust one.",
        "question_text": "trust (codebook verbatim): \"Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?\" fair: \"Do you think most people would try to take advantage of you if they got a chance, or would they try to be fair?\" helpful: \"Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful, or that they are mostly just looking out for themselves?\""
    },
    "questions": [
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_trust_general",
            "prompt_text": "Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 2.204,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 2.087,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 2.321,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.716,
            "ground_truth_skewness": 0.861,
            "ground_truth_shape": "bimodal-asymmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "1_careful_pct": 64.6,
                "3_depends_pct": 10.5,
                "5_trusted_pct": 24.8
            },
            "n_respondents": 946,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. trust_share=(24.8+0.5×10.5)\/100=0.301. SSR=1+4×0.301=2.204. Only 24.8% endorse the high-trust answer — the lowest of the three items by a clear margin. Distribution keys are 1\/3\/5 SSR anchors carrying weighted percentages."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_trust_fair",
            "prompt_text": "Do you think most people would try to take advantage of you if they got a chance, or would they try to be fair?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 2.91,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 2.782,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 3.038,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.872,
            "ground_truth_skewness": 0.089,
            "ground_truth_shape": "multimodal-symmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "5_fair_pct": 41.6,
                "3_depends_pct": 12.2,
                "1_advantage_pct": 46.1
            },
            "n_respondents": 940,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. high-trust code is 2 in the raw codebook — re-anchored to SSR 5 for storage. trust_share=(41.6+0.5×12.2)\/100=0.4775. SSR=1+4×0.4775=2.910. Roughly 50\/50 with a small lean toward 'fair'. Distribution keys are 1\/3\/5 SSR anchors."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_trust_helpful",
            "prompt_text": "Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful, or that they are mostly just looking out for themselves?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 2.849,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 2.722,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 2.977,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.819,
            "ground_truth_skewness": 0.15,
            "ground_truth_shape": "multimodal-symmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "3_depends_pct": 16.7,
                "5_helpful_pct": 37.9,
                "1_looking_out_pct": 45.4
            },
            "n_respondents": 939,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. trust_share=(37.9+0.5×16.7)\/100=0.4624. SSR=1+4×0.4624=2.849. The largest 'depends' share in the battery (16.7%) — readers reach for the conditional answer more often when the prompt is about other people's intent toward the respondent personally. Distribution keys are 1\/3\/5 SSR anchors."
        }
    ]
}