The Australian Survey of Social Attitudes, 2017

DOI

10.17605/OSF.IO/7CRNX

Citation

Phillipov, M., Tranter, B., Booth, K., Hookway, N., Cama, E., & Chapman, C. (2023, August 25). The Australian Survey of Social Attitudes, 2017.

Summary

The Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) is Australia's main source of data for the scientific study of the social attitudes, beliefs and opinions of Australians, how they change over time, and how they compare with other societies. The survey is used to help researchers better understand how Australians think and feel about their lives. It produces important information about the changing views and attitudes of Australians as we move through the 21st century. Similar surveys are run in other countries, so data from AuSSA survey also allows us to compare Australia with countries all over the world.

The aims of the survey are to discover: the range of Australians' views on topics that are important to all of us; how these views differ for people in different circumstances; how they have changed over the past quarter century; and how they compare with people in other countries. AuSSA is also the Australian component of the International Social Survey Project (ISSP). The ISSP is a cross-national collaboration on surveys covering important topics. Each year, survey researchers in some 40 countries each do a national survey using the same questions.

The ISSP focuses on a special topic each year, repeating that topic from time to time. The topic for 2017 is "Social Networks and Social Resources". This is the third time this has been the topic of the survey, having previously been the theme for the survey in 1986 and 2001.

The AuSSA is deposited at the ARDA by the ACSPRI. The codebooks are available at the ARDA. The data are available from the Australian Data Archive.

The ARDA has added six additional variables to the original data set to enhance the users' experience on our site.

Data File

Cases: 1317
Variables: 274
Weight Variable: AU_WEIGHT

Weights based on working status, age, sex. Weights rescaled by (weight x number of cases) / sum of calculated weights.

Data Collection

May 2017 - May 2018

Original Survey (Instrument)

AUSSA2017 Questionnaire

Funded By

Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research Incorporated (ACSPRI)

Collection Procedures

Total design method followed. A preletter was sent in week 1, including plain language statement. Week 2 included the questionnaire and a reply paid envelope. Week 3 had a reminder postcard. Week 5 included a replacement questionnaire and reply paid envelope. Week 6 included a final reminder and thank you postcard.

Response rate = 0.28 (1,317 completed questionnaires, 5,000 sample size, 277 ineligible as not at address or dead)

Sampling Procedures

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Principal Investigators

Michelle Phillipov
Bruce Tranter
Kate Booth
Nicholas Hookway
Elena Cama
Cassandra Chapman