The General Social Survey (GSS), conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, is a major source of data on social attitudes in the United States. Once each year, 1500 adults are interviewed in their homes all across the country. The subjects are asked their opinions about sex and marriage, attitudes toward women, welfare, foreign policy, and many other issues. The GSS never releases any individual responses, only percents and averages for large groups of people. This policy is called
A) anonymity.
B) informed consent.
C) voluntary response.
D) confidentiality.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The policy described, in which individual responses are kept confidential and only aggregate data is released, is known as confidentiality. Option A (anonymity) refers to the protection of personal information, but does not capture the idea that only group data is released. Option B (informed consent) is a concept related to human subjects research, but is not directly applicable in this context. Option C (voluntary response) describes a survey design where individuals choose whether or not to participate, but is not directly related to the concept being asked about in this question.

The General Social Survey (GSS), Conducted by the National Opinion