Chinese Social Survey to Launch

The University of Michigan's Instiute for Social Research (ISR), together with Peking University, has established a new program in Quantitative Social Science. The venture involves a bi-annual population survey of two Chinese provinces with a combined population of 150 million people.

A permanent group of Chinese interviewers is being recruited and trained for the study, which is due to begin in August 2006 in Henan and Liaoning provinces, and will cover a range of topics from health and family relationships to socio-economic status.

James Lee, Director of the University of Michigan's Center for Chinese Studies explains that rapid economic development in China has given rise to dramatic social changes, and that the best possible quantitative measurements are essential 'to map the contours of this transformation and understand its implications'. ISR demographer Yu Xie says the survey will provide a model of 'how to produce a high-quality, longitudinal data set'. The data will be made widely available to other researchers.

Other components of the joint program will start this autumn, when Chinese post-doctoral students will go to the University of Michigan to work with research professors. In addition, ISR faculty staff will teach classes at Peking University in Beijing on survey methods, sampling and analytic techniques.

The U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) is online at www.isr.umich.edu

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.