Attitude to the Census (Representative Federal Surveys)

Attitude of the West German population to the census.

Summary of the data sets of a five-wave trend survey from ZA Study
Nos. 1583 to 1587, insofar as it touches on the census topic.

Topics: 1. From the first wave (ZA Study No. 1583): political
interest; satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic;
difficulties in completing official matters; sympathy scale for
political parties; attitude to the census and intent to participate;
knowledge about the legal obligation to participate; personal
consequences of non-participation; readiness to participate given
threat of fine; response or boycott conduct in the survey; time of last
noticed media reports about the census and content tendency of these
articles; conversations about the census in social surroundings and
time of last conversation; living together with a partner and his
attitude to the census; assumed participation of partner in the census;
attitude to the census in circle of friends and acquaintances as well
as their assumed willingness to participate; perceived attitude of the
population as well as parties, churches and trade unions on the census;
knowledge about the survey procedure; attitude to government
statistics; personal fears regarding misuse of personal census data;
trust in observance of data protection; attitude to the census in 1983;
willingness to participate in a microcensus survey; attitude to
technology; self-assessment on a left-right continuum; knowledge about
the office for data protection and the data protection official;
earlier participation in a survey and type of survey; attitude to
opinion polls (scale).

Demography: month of birth of respondent; sex; marital status; number
of children; ages of children (classified); religious denomination;
frequency of church attendance; school education; vocational training;
occupation; occupational position; employment; monthly net income of
respondent and household altogether; number of persons contributing to
household income; size of household; position of respondent in
household; characteristics of head of household; number of persons
eligible to vote in household; persons in household who do not have
German citizenship; self-assessment of social class; union membership
of respondent and other members of household; possession of a
telephone.

Interviewer rating: presence of third persons during interview and
person desiring this presence; intervention of others in interview and
person introducing intervention; attitude to the census of additional
persons present during interview; presence of further persons in other
rooms; willingness to cooperate and reliability of respondent.

Also encoded was: length of interview; date of interview;
identification of interviewer; sex of interviewer; age of interviewer
Test.

2. From the second wave (ZA Study No. 1584): political interest;
satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic; difficulties in
completing official matters; sympathy scale for political parties;
attitude to the census; intent to participate in the census; knowledge
about the legal obligation to participate; personal consequences of
non-participation; readiness to participate given threat of fine;
response or boycott conduct in the survey; time of last noticed media
reports about the census and content tendency of these articles;
conversations about the census in social surroundings and time of last
conversation; living together with a partner and his attitude to the
census; assumed participation of partner in the census; attitude to the
census in circle of friends and acquaintances as well as their assumed
willingness to participate; perceived attitude of the population as
well as parties, churches and trade unions to the census; knowledge
about the contents of the census survey; knowledge about the survey
procedure; attitude to government statistics; personal fears regarding
misuse of personal census data; trust in observance of data protection;
attitude to the census in 1983; perception of advertising actions for
and against the census and judgement on the argumentation of supporters
and opponents; attitude to technology; self-assessment on a left-right
continuum; knowledge about the office for data protection and the data
protection official; frequency of conversations about politics; ability
to establish contacts; party preference; behavior at the polls in the
last Federal Parliament election.

Demography: month of birth of respondent; sex; marital status; number
of children; ages of children (classified); religious denomination;
frequency of church attendance; school education; vocational training;
occupation; occupational position; employment; monthly net income of
respondent and household altogether; number of persons contributing to
household income; size of household; position of respondent in
household; characteristics of head of household; number of persons
eligible to vote in household; persons in household who do not have
German citizenship; self-assessment of social class; union membership
of respondent and other members of household; possession of a
telephone.

Interviewer rating: presence of third persons during interview and
person desiring this presence; intervention of others in interview and
person introducing intervention; attitude to the census of additional
persons present during interview; presence of further persons in other
rooms; willingness to cooperate and reliability of respondent.

Also encoded was: length of interview; date of interview;
identification of interviewer; sex of interviewer; age of interviewer.

3. From the third wave (ZA Study No. 1585): political interest;
satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic; difficulties in
completing official matters; sympathy scale for political parties;
attitude to the census and intent to participate; knowledge about the
legal obligation to participate; personal consequences of
non-participation; willingness to participate given threat of fine;
response or boycott conduct in the survey; noticed media reports about
the census and content tendency of these articles; conversations about
the census in social surroundings and time of last conversation; living
together with a partner and his attitude to the census; assumed
participation in the census of partner; attitude to the census in
circle of friends and acquaintances as well as their assumed
willingness to participate; perceived attitude of the population as
well as parties, churches and trade unions to the census; knowledge
about the contents of the census survey; attitude to punishment of
census boycotters as well as person calling for boycott; knowledge
about the survey procedure; attitude to government statistics; personal
fears regarding misuse of personal census data; trust in observance of
data protection; attitude to the census in 1983; perception of
advertising actions for and against the census and judgement on
argumentation of supporters and opponents; attitude to technology;
self-assessment on a left-right continuum; knowledge about the office
for data protection and the data protection official; frequency of
conversations about politics; ability to establish contacts; party
preference; behavior at the polls in the last Federal Parliament
election.

Demography: month of birth of respondent; sex; marital status; number
of children; ages of children (classified); religious denomination;
frequency of church attendance; school education; vocational training;
occupation; occupational position; employment; monthly net income of
respondent and household altogether; number of persons contributing to
household income; size of household; position of respondent in
household; characteristics of head of household; number of persons
eligible to vote in household; persons in household who do not have
German citizenship; self-assessment of social class; union membership
of respondent and other members of household; possession of a
telephone.

Interviewer rating: presence of third persons during interview and
person desiring this presence; intervention of others in the interview
and person introducing intervention; attitude to the census of
additional persons present during interview; presence of further
persons in other rooms; willingness to cooperate and reliability of
respondent.

Also encoded was: length of interview; date of interview;
identification of interviewer; sex of interviewer; age of interviewer.

4. From the fourth wave (ZA Study No. 1586): political interest;
satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic; difficulties in
completing official matters; sympathy scale for political parties;
attitude to the census; conversations about the census in social
surroundings and topics discussed; attitude to the census in circle of
friends and acquaintances; perceived attitude of the population to the
census; conversation contact with canvasser; questionnaire filled out
by canvasser or oneself; individually filling out questionnaire or
information for entire household by a single person; length of filling
out the form; response or boycott conduct in the survey; manner of
return of questionnaire; attitude to the question program of the census
and personal change in attitude from taking notice of the
questionnaire; intent to participate; response or boycott conduct in
circle of friends and acquaintances; topics noticed of media reporting
about the census and content tendency of these articles; attitude to
use of canvassers; assessment and importance of trustworthiness of
canvasser; attitude to punishment of census boycotters as well as
persons calling for boycott; attitude to obligation to participate in
the census (scale); attitude to boycott and criticism of the census
(scale); attitude to government statistics; personal fears regarding
misuse of personal census data; trust in observance of data protection;
knowledge about the offices for data protection and the office of the
data protection official.

Demography: month of birth of respondent; sex; marital status; number
of children; ages of children (classified); religious denomination;
frequency of church attendance; school education; vocational training;
occupation; occupational position; employment; monthly net income of
respondent and household altogether; number of persons contributing to
household income; size of household; position of respondent in
household; characteristics of head of household; number of persons
eligible to vote in household; persons in household who do not have
German citizenship; self-assessment of social class; union membership
of respondent and other members of household; possession of a
telephone.

Interviewer rating: presence of third persons during interview and
person desiring this presence; intervention of others in interview and
person indroducing intervention; attitude to the census of additional
persons present during interview; presence of further persons in other
rooms; willingness to cooperate and reliability of respondent.

Also encoded was: length of interview; date of interview;
identification of interviewer; sex of interviewer; age of interviewer.

5. From the fifth wave (ZA Study No. 1587): political interest;
satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic; satisfaction with
current Federal Government; attitude to the census; receipt of a
written demand to fill out the questionnaire; assumed amount of
non-participation in the census; attitude to the census in circle of
friends and acquaintances; conversations about the census in social
surroundings and time of last conversation; noticed media reporting
about the census; census questions that would be answered reluctantly;
attitude to punishment of census boycotters; knowledge of cases of
refusal; assumed participation of the population in the census given
voluntary participation; willingness to answer selected personal
questions given voluntary participation; preference for census or
provision by public offices of data already currently available;
assumed benefit or harm of discussion about the census in the media;
attitude to calls for boycott; judgement on results of the boycott
movement; benefit of the census; self-assessment on a left-right
continuum; most important elements of a democracy and characterization
of democracy in the Federal Republic; party preference; violation of
fundamental rights perceived personally or by persons in social
surroundings; attitude to technology; personal fears and attitude
regarding misuse of personal census data; trust in observance of data
protection; attitude to storing personal data; attitude to opinion
polls (scale); willingness to participate in a microcensus survey;
willingness to provide data from private sphere to friends, neighbors,
statistical offices and in scientific surveys; attitude to government
statistics.

Demography: month of birth of respondent; sex; marital status; number
of children; ages of children (classified); religious denomination;
frequency of church attendance; school education; vocational training;
occupation; occupational position; employment; monthly net income of
respondent and household altogether; number of persons contributing to
household income; size of household; position of respondent in
household; characteristics of head of household; number of persons
eligible to vote in household; persons in household who do not have
German citizenship; self-assessment of social class; union membership
of respondent and other members of household; possession of a
telephone.

Interviewer rating: presence of third persons during interview and
person desiring this presence; intervention of others in interview and
person introducing intervention; attitude to the census of additional
persons present during interview; presence of further persons in other
rooms; willingness to cooperate and reliability of respondent.

Also encoded was: length of interview; date of interview;
identification of interviewer; sex of interviewer; age of interviewer.