General Social Survey, 2006, Basic and Expanded

Microdata from the 2006 General Social Survey (GSS) is available in the form of a Basic Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) and an Expanded CURF. These CURFS consist of both a person and voluntary work level containing confidentialised data on all persons 18 years or over. The data provides information on people's health, family relationships, social and community involvement, education, employment, income and financial stress, assets and liabilities, housing and mobility, crime and safety, transport, attendance at culture and leisure venues, and sports attendance and participation. The person level contains 13,375 records about each selected person and the household to which they belong. The voluntary work level contains 7062 records about each selected voluntary work organisation for which the selected person engaged in voluntary work during the previous 12 months.

The 2006 General Social Survey Basic CURF is available on CD-ROM and via the Remote Access Data Laboratory (RADL). The Expanded file is only available through RADL. The RADL is accessible for authorised users via the ABS web site and enables the ABS to make more detailed microdata available than on CD-ROM, while still maintaining the confidentiality of ABS data providers.

Differences between the Basic and Expanded CURFs

As the RADL provides additional protection to the data, the level of detail provided on the Expanded CURF is greater than that on the Basic CURF. Some items that are not on the Basic CURF will be included on the Expanded CURF, for example Family Composition. Other items will be available on the Expanded CURF in more detail, such as weekly mortgage and rent payments that are ranged on the Basic CURF but continuous items on the Expanded CURF.

For more information about the content and use of the 2006 GSS Basic and Expanded CURFs see General Social Survey User Guide (cat.no. 4159.0.55.002).