South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) 2008: Questionnaire 1 - All provinces

Description: The questions contained in SASAS questionnaire one for 2008 were asked of approximately 3500 respondents. The data set contains 3321 records and 366 variables. Topics included in the questionnaire are: democracy, intergroup relations, public services: education, moral issues, crime and safety, voting, demographics and other classificatory variables. Rotating modules are: national identity and pride, gender attitudes, poverty, household expenditure, soccer world cup, service delivery and hope scale.

Abstract: The primary objective of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) is to design, develop and implement a conceptually and methodologically robust study of changing social attitudes and values in South Africa. In meeting this objective, the HSRC is carefully and consistently monitoring and providing insight into changes in attitudes among various socio-demographic groupings. SASAS is intended to provide a unique long-term account of the social fabric of modern South Africa, and of how its changing political and institutional structures interact over time with changing social attitudes and values. The survey has been designed to yield a national representative sample of adults aged 16 and older, using the Human Sciences Research Council's (HSRC) second Master Sample, which was designed in 2007 and consists of 1000 primary sampling units (PSUs). These PSUs were drawn, with probability proportional to size from a pre-census 2001 list of 80780 enumerator areas (EAs). As the basis of the 2008 SASAS round of interviewing, a sub-sample of 500 EAs (PSUs) was drawn from the second master sample. Three explicit stratification variables were used, namely province, geographic type and majority population group. The survey is conducted annually and the 2008 survey is the sixth wave in the series. To accommodate the wide variety of topics included in the survey, two questionnaires are administered simultaneously. The core module will remain constant for subsequent annual SASAS surveys with the aim of monitoring change and continuity in a variety of socio-economic and socio-political variables. In addition, a number of themes will be accommodated in rotation. The rotating element of the survey consists of two or more topic-specific modules in each round of interviewing and is directed at measuring a range of policy and academic concerns and issues that require more detailed examination at a specific point in time than the multi-topic core module would permit. The two different versions of the questionnaire were administered concurrently in each of the chosen sampling areas. Fieldworkers were required to complete a paper-based instrument while interviews were conducted face-to-face. Topics included in the questionnaires are: democracy, national identity and pride, education, moral issues, crime, voting, demographics and other classificatory variables. Rotating modules are: intergroup relations, gender attitudes, poverty, household expenditure, Soccer World Cup, service delivery, Hope Scale, water and sanitation and Hunger Scale. International Social Survey Programme. (ISSP web page:www.issp.org/) The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is run by a group of research organisations, each of which undertakes to field annually an agreed module of questions on a chosen topic area. SASAS 2003 represents the formalisation of South Africa's inclusion in the ISSP, the intention being to include the module in one of the SASAS questionnaires in each round of interviewing. Each module is chosen for repetition at intervals to allow comparisons both between countries (membership currently stands at 48) and over time. In 2008, the chosen subject was the religion and the module was carried in version two of the questionnaire (Qs.1-80. This data can be accessed through the ISSP data portal (see link above).