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Description & Citation--Study No. 2952

Bibliographic Description

ICPSR Study No.:2952
 
Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02952
 
Title:Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior, December 1996
 
Principal Investigator(s):University of Michigan. Survey Research Center. Economic Behavior Program
 
Series:Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior Series
 
Bibliographic Citation:University of Michigan, Survey Research Center, Economic Behavior Program. SURVEY OF CONSUMER ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR, DECEMBER 1996 [Computer file]. ICPSR version. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Survey Research Center [producer], 1996. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2000. doi:10.3886/ICPSR02952
 

Scope of Study

Summary:This survey was undertaken to measure changes in consumer attitudes and expectations, to understand why such changes occur, and to evaluate how they relate to consumer decisions to save, borrow, or make discretionary purchases. This type of information is essential for forecasting changes in aggregate consumer behavior. Since the 1940s, these surveys have been produced quarterly through 1977 and monthly thereafter. Each monthly survey probes a different aspect of consumer confidence. Open-ended questions are asked concerning evaluations and expectations about personal finances, employment, price changes, and the national business situation. Additional questions probe buying intentions for automobiles and computers, and the respondent's appraisals of present market conditions for purchasing houses, automobiles, computers, and other durables. Also explored in this survey were respondents' types of savings and financial investments, family income and sources of income, checking account balance, use of automatic teller machines, use of bank debit cards, and patterns of payment on credit cards. Other variables probed respondents' knowledge and use of the Internet, use of a PC at home and in the office, gasoline costs, and ownership, rental, and use of automobiles. Demographic information includes ethnic origin, sex, age, marital status, and education.
 
Subject Term(s):consumer attitudes, consumer behavior, consumer expectations, consumer expenditures, disposable income, durable goods, economic conditions, employment, inflation, interest rates, national economy, personal finances, price fluctuations, purchasing
 
Geographic Coverage:United States
 
Universe:Population of the United States aged 18 and older in households.
 
Data Collection Notes:(1) The data are provided as an SPSS portable file. (2) This collection has not been processed by ICPSR staff. ICPSR is distributing the data and documentation for this collection in essentially the same form in which they were received. When appropriate, hardcopy documentation has been converted to machine-readable form and variables have been recoded to ensure respondents' anonymity. (3) The codebook is provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Website.
 

Methodology

Sample:National sample of dwelling units selected by area probability sampling.
 

Access and Availability

Note:A list of the data formats available for this study can be found in the summary of holdings. Detailed file-level information (such as record length, case count, and variable count) is listed in the file manifest.
 
Original ICPSR Release:2000-11-10
 
Dataset(s):
  • DS1: Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior, December 1996
 

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