Sampling of respondents assumed the form of a multistage area-probability sample with three calls. The sampling included persons of 16 years and older living in multimember households. People living in informal settlements were included in the sampling frame. However, domestic workers and hostel dwellers were excluded from the sample. Enumeration Areas were drawn from the 2001 Population Census and sampling points were allocated to sub-places in each of the metros. Within each of the sampled sub-places, a street was randomly selected using a Geographical Information System (GIS) application, which indicates all the streets within the boundaries of each sub-place. The streets were listed and a street randomly selected from the list of streets. In the selected street between four and six dwellings were then be selected using a random walk procedure in the selected area. If there was more than one household at a dwelling, one household was chosen using a random procedure. At every alternate dwelling, all the males or all the females over 16 years of age were listed in order of age and thereafter one chosen using a random selection grid.If the interviewer found at their first visit that the qualifying person was not available for the duration of the fieldwork such as being on holiday or being sick, or could not speak any of the South African official languages, interviewers were allowed to substitute immediately. Three calls had to be made prior to substituting.
