House Effects and the Reproducibility of Survey Measurements: A Comparison of the 1980 GSS and the 1980 American National Election Study

This paper examines a collaborative experiment between the GeneralSocial Survey, National Opinion Research Center, and the AmericanNational Election Study, Center for Political Studies. Identicalitems were asked by both surveys, thereby permitting a testof reproducibility and house effects. Significant differenceswere found between the houses, with the largest and most systematicdifferences involving item nonresponse. Various explanationsfor the differences are examined and a general assessment ofthe importance of the differences is presented.