East Asian Social Survey

Contributed by Jibum Kim (WAPOR Publications Chair, Sungkyunkwan University)

The East Asian Social Survey (EASS, www.eassda.org) is a biennial social survey project that purports to produce and disseminate academic survey data sets in East Asia. As a cross-national network of the four General Social Survey (GSS) type surveys in East Asia — the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), the Japanese General Social Survey (JGSS), the Korean General Social Survey (KGSS), and the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS) — the EASS is dedicated to the promotion of comparative studies on diverse aspects of social lives in East Asia. Launched in 2003, the EASS is truly unique in its East Asian focus. Up to now about 2,400 individuals requested the EASS data (see table below).

The EASS has conducted six module surveys in 2006 (family in East Asia), 2008 (Globalization and Culture in East Asia), 2010 (Health in East Asia), 2012(Social Capital in East Asia), 2014(Work Life in East Asia), 2016 (family in East Asia) respectively, and is working on harmonizing of 2016 data. The 2016 EASS will be released by the end of 2018. Currently, the data collection for the 2018 module has started.

Data requests by country: