2000 STUDY DESCRIPTION FOR THE AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION STUDY

     The 2000 American National Election Study was conducted by the Center for
Political Studies of the Institute for Social Research, under the general
direction of Nancy Burns and Donald R. Kinder.  Ashley Grosse was the Director
of Studies for the National Election Studies and oversaw the study from early 
planning stages through release of the 2000 data collection.  She was assisted 
by Patricia Luevano, Laurie Pierson, and Chuck Kierpie.  This is the twenty-
sixth in a series of studies of American national elections produced by the
Center for Political Studies and the Survey Research Center, and it is the
twelfth traditional time-series study to be conducted under the auspices of
National Science Foundation Grants (SBR-9317631, SES-9209410, SES-9009379,
SES-8808361, SES-8341310, SES-8207580, SOC77-08885 and SES 9707741) providing 
long-term support for the National Election Studies.  Since 1978, the National 
Election Studies have been designed by a national Board of Overseers, the 
members of which meet several times a year to plan content and administration
of the major study components.  Board members during the planning of the 2000 
National Election Study included Larry Bartels, Chair (Princeton University), 
Nancy Burns, ex officio (University of Michigan), Charles Franklin (University 
of Wisconsin), John Mark Hansen (University of Chicago), Robert Huckfeldt, 
(Indiana University), Donald Kinder, ex officio (University of Michigan), Jon
A. Krosnick, (Ohio State University), Arthur Lupia (University of California, 
San Diego), Wendy Rahn (University of Minnesota), Virginia Sapiro (University
of Wisconsin), W. Phillips Shively (University of Minnesota), Laura Stoker 
(University of California, Berkeley).  As part of the study planning 
process, a special planning committee was appointed, a pilot study conducted,
and stimulus letters sent to members of the scholarly community soliciting
input on study plans.  Board member Robert Huckfeldt chaired the Planning
Committee for the 2000 National Election Study which included from the Board:
Larry Bartels (Princeton University), Nancy Burns (University of Michigan),
Charles Franklin, (University of Wisconsin), John Mark Hansen (University of
Chicago), Donald Kinder (University of Michigan), Jon A. Krosnick (Ohio State
University), Arthur Lupia (University of California, San Diego), Virginia
Sapiro (University of Wisconsin), Laura Stoker (University of California,
Berkeley), and five other scholars from the community, Steven Ansolabehere
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Janet Box-Steffensmeier (Ohio State
University), Clem Brooks (Indiana University), Darren Davis (Michigan State
University), and Donald Green (Yale University), and Ashley Grosse (NES
Director of Studies).

     Two pilot studies were carried out prior to the 2000 Election Study for
the purpose of developing new instrumentation and the methodological
investigation of concepts previously measured in NES surveys.  The 1998 Pilot
Study, one of the most innovative pilots to date, was the first pilot to be
fielded during an election season.  The timing allowed NES to test
instrumentation that is exclusively related to the electoral context.  The
pilot study focused on the three high-profile gubernatorial contests in 
California, Illinois, and Georgia.  Several new measures that were piloted 
include: media usage; social context and communication; need for evaluation;
group mobilization; public mood; tone of campaign; awareness of campaign 
issues; and whether R owns stock.  Also, a significant portion of the 
interview was devoted to the methodological investigation of concepts 
previously measured in NES surveys.  Among those were: campaign 
participation; media use; feeling thermometers as measures of awareness; 
vote intention; and political knowledge.

     In March of 2000, NES fielded a Special Topic Pilot Study, funded by the 
Russell Sage Foundation, to develop and refine a series of new measures on 
social trust.  Additionally, new items were tested in the areas of trust in 
elections, civic engagement, need for cognition, and social desirability.  New 
measures were developed for domain specific trust involving neighbors and co-
workers.  Results indicated that these new measures gauge trust reliably, that 
neighborhood and workplace trust are related to but distinct from general
social trust, and they contribute independently to participation in politics. 
These items were included in the 2000 Election Study.

     Data from the 1998 and 2000 NES pilot studies are available through the
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (respectively,
ICPSR 2693 and ICPSR 2936).  

     Results from these pilot studies were used by the Planning Committee in 
formulating recommendations to the Board about study content for the 2000 Pre- 
and Post-Election Survey.  Copies of the Pilot Study Reports are available on 
the NES Website (www.umich.edu/~nes), or may be obtained by contacting the NES 
project staff. 
     
NES Project Staff
Center for Political Studies
Room 4026 
Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan   
Ann Arbor MI  48106-1248    
nes@umich.edu
http://www.umich.edu/~nes