Estimates of Sampling Error
1. "0" values in some variables
Many of the variables have a "0" value in addition to the values for responses, e.g. variables with yes/no responses are coded "0" "1""2". There is no indication that the 0 represents "missing" (only Q75 specifies the use of "0" for none/nobody).
2. Variable Q9 (Question 9)
Q8 lists the number of resident children under the age of 18. Q9 refers to this question with: "of these children aged below 16 living in your household". This should probably be "aged below 18", in line with Q8 The data only reflects children under 16, so the question should probably have been "of these children, how many below the age of 16 are (Q9A) children of the head of the household and (Q9B) children not born to the head of household, i.e. children born to others. It seems though, that Q8 and Q9 should match, with Q8 identifying children and Q9 identifying children of the household head. If specifying 16 rather than 18 in Q9 is an error, then this has been reflected in the data. This means that household members 17-18 years are listed, but the data does not record whether they are children of the household head.
3. Variable Q21 (Question 21)
“What do you think is the most deserving cause that you support or would support if you could?” There are 14 values for Q21 (1-14).According to the report (Everatt, D. and G. Solanki. 2005. A Nation of givers: Social giving amongst South Africans) this and other open-ended questions were later categorised and given numeric codes. However, a codebook was not included with the documentation provided to DataFirst
4. Variable Q22 (Question 22)
“Is there one cause or charity or organisation you would definitely NOT give money to?” There are 14 values for Q22 (1-14). Again, this requires a code list for explanation.
5. Variable Q29 (Question 29)
Q28 deals with the giving of goods/food/clothes. Q29 provides a breakdown of these items, and Q28Q29L lists time/labour as one of these. It seems that Q29L is incorrectly listed as a sub-set of goods/food/clothes. Also, giving time to causes is dealt with extensively in Q30A-Q and Q31A-Q, so this variable seems out of place.
6. Variable Q39 (Question 36)
This concerns the giving of food, goods, or other forms of help to beggars/street children/people asking for help, but the question text does not specifically mention these forms of help, so can be misleading.
7. Variable Q44 (Question 44)
Q44 asks the respondent to complete the sentence "Help the poor because…." There are 8 values for this variable (0-7 and 11). Again, a code list is required to explain these values.
8. Variable Q59 (Question 59)
This question has three coded responses (1-3) so should have three values (or 4, with a “missing” value). There are 12 values for this variable, though (59A-59L). It is possible that this variable has been swopped with Q60 (However, Q60 only has 11 options in the questionnaire)
9. Variable Q60 (Question 60)
The variable from this question only has 4 values, but there are 11 possible responses to this question (60A-60K). This variable could have been swopped with Q59 (In which case, the extra value needs explanation, as Q59 only has 11 options in the questionnaire.
10. Variables Q67 - Q82
From this point on the order of variables seems wrong, as the responses don't match the number of values listed in the questionnaire. The variables seem to refer to the next question along, e.g. Variable Q67 seems to have data emanating from Question 68, and so on. The data in the revised dataset has been corrected to reflect this.
11. There is no variable Q83 in the dataset, although there is a question 83 in the questionnaire. This seems to support the above explanation. Data users are requested to provide any additional findings on this that come to light in their research.