Since 2000, JGSS Research Center at Osaka University of Commerce has conducted nine nationwide surveys, involving thousands of respondents, which purport to promote the understanding of a current picture of Japanese society and its changes. JGSS has publicly called for research proposals targeting researchers in wide-ranging fields of social sciences. In 2003, JGSS also started a joint research project called the "East Asian Social Survey" (EASS) with South Korea, Taiwan, and China, each of which had already been conducting GSS-type surveys. The four teams collaborate to conduct nationwide surveys comprising the same questions for each country and region. Since 2006, JGSS has conducted a nationwide survey every two years. It takes more than 4 years to prepare for each survey, to finalize both Japanese and English versions of the data, and to deposit them in Japanese and international data archives. Thus, JGSS Research Center is simultaneously working on different surveys at various stages. This article reviews their typical workflow to explain the work and the issues at each stage. JGSS public data have been used by universities and research institutions inside and outside Japan. The total number of users amounted to more than 25,000 by the end of January 2012. JGSS public data are utilized in diverse fields, including sociology, economics, demography, statistics, political science, psychology, pedagogy, linguistics, geography, public health, and agriculture. The data have been utilized to produce over 700 publications and contributed to research and education in Japan and abroad. This article also describes the research manner requested from research proposal applicants as well as from the users of public data. JGSS needs considerable support from the academic community to secure stable funding for continuing large-scale social surveys.
View full abstract