South African Lockdown Smoking Survey 2020

South Africa, 2020

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Reference ID

zaf-reep-salss-2020-v1

Producer(s)

Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP)

Collections

Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products

Metadata

DDI/XML JSON

Created on

Sep 20, 2021

Last modified

Oct 13, 2021

Page views

65341

Downloads

2389

Identification

Survey ID number

zaf-reep-salss-2020-v1

Title

South African Lockdown Smoking Survey 2020

Country

Name	Country code
South Africa	zaf

Study type

Household Survey [hh]

Abstract

Between 27 March and 17 August 2020, the South African Government imposed and extended a ban on the sale of all tobacco and vaping products, as part of the lockdown to fight the COVID-19 virus. The South African Lockdown Smoking Survey (SALSS) is an online survey that collected data on cigarette smoking behaviour before, during and after this sales ban. The Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP), based at the University of Cape Town, conducted 3 online surveys between 29 April and 16 November to determine how individuals responded to the ban on cigarette sales during the lockdown, and to evaluate how it impacted the cigarette market in South Africa. The first and second surveys (SALSS Round 1 and Round 2) were designed to assess how cigarette smokers responded to the sales ban in terms of smoking prevalence and purchasing behaviour (prices paid, outlet type and brand choice). The third survey (SALSS Round 3) was conducted after the sales ban had been lifted and focused on how the market adjusted after the ban.

Kind of Data

Qualitative and quantitative data

Unit of Analysis

Individuals

Version

Version Description

v1: Edited and anonymised for public distribution

Version Date

2021-09-09

Scope

Notes

Rounds 1 and 2 were conducted before and during the lockdown. Modules investigated smoking behaviour, quitting, stocking up, access to cigarettes during lockdown, purchases (including price, outlet type and brand purchased), perceptions of the lockdown and COVID, and socio-economic and demographic information. Rounds 1 and 2 are cross-sectional.

The questionnaires for Round 1 and Round 2 are similar except that Round 2 excludes detailed questions on stock-up, and added some additional questions regarding when during the lockdown respondents quit, and whether respondents ever shared individual cigarettes.

Round 3 was conducted once the ban had been lifted, and added questions about the use of other tobacco products beyond cigarettes, such as pipe tobacco, cigars, snuff, waterpipe, and electronic cigarettes. Round 3 was a longitudinal subset of Round 2, including only respondents who agreed in Round 2 to be interviewed again.

Coverage

Geographic Coverage

The survey was advertised to all South Africans using social media, specifically: Twitter (the REEP twitter account), Moya (a data-free (cost-free) instant messenger application) and Change.org (a petition website). As such there was no ex-ante sampling frame or intention to produce statistically representative estimates.

Geographic Unit

The lowest level of geographic information is Province.

Universe

The SALSS covered all South African adults (aged 18 and older) who were regular cigarette smokers (at least one cigarette per day) at the time the tobacco sales ban was announced.

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators

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

Funding Agency/Sponsor

Name	Role
The African Capacity Building Foundation	Funder

Other Identifications/Acknowledgments

Name
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Sampling

Sampling Procedure

The survey was developed and hosted on the SurveyMonkey website. Social media (Twitter and the petition site www.change.org) was used to advertise the survey and print media outlets were also used in Round 1. Additionally the survey advert was posted on Moya Messenger, a data-free/airtime-free instant messaging service, where user costs were covered by the survey team. Participation was encouraged by offering respondents the opportunity to win a prize.

Survey instrument

Questionnaires

In each round a single self-administered online survey questionnaire was administered through SurveyMonkey. The Round 1 questionnaire was published in English and Afrikaans. Questionnaires for Rounds 2 and 3 were only published in English.

Data collection

Dates of Data Collection

Start	End	Cycle
2020-04-29	2020-05-11	Round 1
2020-06-04	2020-06-19	Round 2
2020-09-16	2020-11-16	Round 3

Data Collection Mode

Internet [int]

Data Collectors

Name	Affiliation
Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (formerly the Economics of Tobacco Control Project)	University of Cape Town

Supervision

Ethics approval was granted by the University of Cape Town’s Commerce Faculty’s Ethics in Research Committee (ref. REC 2020/04/024).

Data processing

Data Editing

Data collected by REEP was in excel format and in various files depending on the method of contact and interview. These files were collated by DataFirst into a research-ready format.

Notes on data cleaning:
· Incomplete surveys are included with a flag to indicate such.
· Under 18s have been excluded as they were not supposed to answer the survey.
· Prices have been cleaned but those that did not match DataFirst's cleaning algorithms were not dropped but rather stored in a "price - other" variable so that the analyst can decide how to process these.
· Similarly, where the respondent indicated being unsure about the price, using words like "around, plus minus" and so on, this is indicated with a flag in the relevant rounds.

Data appraisal

Data Appraisal

There were some changes to the survey between rounds 2 and 3: in Rounds 1 and 2 answers to questions on prices were open ended, resulting in some messy responses. In Round 3 this question had coded responses. This change may affect the response rate, the accuracy of the responses, and overall continuity. DataFirst coded responses Round 1 and 2 price information questions to improve comparability.

access_policy

Access authority

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

Access conditions

Public access data, available to all

Citation requirements

Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products. South African Lockdown Smoking Survey [dataset]. Version 1. Cape Town: Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products [producer], 2021.Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/gqnk-6t92

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

Date of Metadata Production

2021-10-13

Metadata version

DDI Document version

Version 1

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