Township Smoking Study 2017-2018

South Africa, 2017 - 2018

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Reference ID

zaf-reep-tss-2017-2018-v1

Producer(s)

Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products

Collections

Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products

Metadata

DDI/XML JSON

Created on

Jul 21, 2020

Last modified

Oct 24, 2025

Page views

51260

Downloads

1190

Identification

Survey ID number

zaf-reep-tss-2017-2018-v1

Title

Township Smoking Study 2017-2018

Country

Name	Country code
South Africa	zaf

Study type

Price Survey [hh/prc]

Series Information

Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products. Township Smoking Study 2017-2018. [dataset]. Version 1. Cape Town: Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP) [producer], 2020. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/47cd-z315

Abstract

Data for the TSS was collected from six South African townships. The townships chosen were Eldorado Park, Ivory Park, Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain, Thabong and Umlazi. 2453 interviews of smokers took place over two rounds between October and November 2017 and again between July and August 2018. The sample includes two of South Africa’s four population groups: African and mixed race (locally referred to as “Coloured”). This is because very few Whites and Asians live in townships. Households were selected at random by enumerators, and one smoker per household was interviewed (if a household contained at least one available smoker).

This dataset was made available under the SALDRU/Economics of Tobacco Control Project: Opening Access to Economic Data to Prevent Tobacco- and Alcohol Related Diseases in Africa 2016-2018 (IDRC Project 108098)

Kind of Data

Sample survey data

Unit of Analysis

Households and individuals

Version

Version Description

v1.0: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution

Version Date

2020-07-21

Scope

Notes

The TSS interviewed 2453 smokers. Respondents were asked about cigarette and tobacco product consumption, perceptions of illicit cigarette trade, and select other socio-economic questions.

Coverage

Geographic Coverage

Data was collected in Gauteng (Eldorado Park and Ivory Park), Western Cape (Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain), Free State (Thabong) and KwaZulu-Natal (Umlazi).

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators

Name	Affiliation
Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products	University of Cape Town

Funding Agency/Sponsor

Name	Role
International Development Research Centre	Funder
Cancer Research UK	Funder
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (via African Capacity Building Foundation)	Funder

Sampling

Sampling Procedure

Enumerators walked through townships and selected houses/dwelligns based on a randomized process. The enumerator was required to enter into a digital form how many directions it was possible to take at a street intersection so that the system could randomly select the direction to take. It also selected the side of the road to walk along and the house from which to start interviews. This procedure was repeated at every intersection and at every apartment building. One adult smoker per household was interviewed (if a household contained at least one available smoker). If there was more than one available smoker, a randomization procedure was again used to select a smoker from the household.

Survey instrument

Questionnaires

There were two questionnaires used, one for each round of data collection. The questionnaire was improved between the two rounds. Some variables were dropped, some were added and some were modified. If the question differed in any regard over the two rounds this is noted in the microdata.

Data was captured using electronic tablets, with a questionnaire provided by UCT operationalised on the SurveyCTO platform.

Data collection

Dates of Data Collection

Start	End	Cycle
2017	2018	All rounds
2017-10	2017-12	Round 1
2018-07	2018-08	Round 2

Data Collection Mode

Face-to-face [f2f]

Data Collectors

Name
Knowledge Pele
ikapadata

Data appraisal

Data Appraisal

Reports from the data collection teams often noted dangerous these townships are. Enumerators could choose the areas they covered. So it is likely that the worst areas were avoided, which could effect measurement. For example, the prevalence of illegal cigarettes.
There is possible re-interviewing of the sample people over the two rounds, although the probability is quite low due to the size of the areas in question.

access_policy

Access authority

Name	Affiliation	URL	Email
DataFirst	University of Cape Town		support@data1st.org

Access conditions

Public use files, available to all

Citation requirements

Contacts

Name	Affiliation	Email	URL
DataFirst Support	University of Cape Town	support@data1st.org

Metadata production

Producers

Name	Affiliation	Role
DataFirst	University of Cape Town	Metadata producer

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