Soviet Interview Project, 1979-1985

This survey was undertaken to study everyday life in the Soviet Union by conducting highly-structured interviews with a probability sample of eligible Soviet emigrants in the United States. An interdisciplinary research team constructed a questionnaire with the expectation that the results would contribute not only to Sovietology, but to general theories in a number of academic disciplines, especially political science, economics, and sociology. Respondents were asked to comment on topics such as: crime, culture and the arts, education, ethnicity (or nationality), family life, fertility, friends, health and diet, housing, income and earnings, language practices, mass media, military experience, political and social opinions, politics, participation in organizations, religion, satisfaction, standard of living, and work. To insure that "normal" life experiences would be described, respondents were asked to define and discuss their last normal period in the USSR. Since applying to emigrate usually brings marked changes in Soviet citizens' lives, respondents reported the month and year in which they applied to emigrate, whether plans to emigrate had significantly changed their lives even before that date, and if so, specified the month and year in which their lives changed. Interviewers then made certain that all descriptions of day-to-day life in the Soviet Union referred to the period before the question of emigration became a significant issue for respondents.