The Multipurpose Social Research Survey: A Service for Academic ResearchersAuthor(s): Norman PerrySource: Area, Vol. 5, No. 4 (1973), pp. 266-267Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20000775 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 16:28

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Area.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.88 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:28:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

266 Workers to the work ?

recent years and, probably, of the future, it would seem appropriate to

reapportion the finance available for unemployment relief, providing more assistance for those people unable to obtain a new job in their home locality

and who either have to accept a longer journey to work or have to move to live in an area where job opportunities are more plentiful.

The message of the recent high unemployment situation is that the labour

force of this country is in an increasing state of flux. Rapid industrial change entails greater job mobility which in turn means potentially more geographical

mobility on the part of the workforce. Policies so far adopted have attempted to stem the flow of workers from places of failing economic health. What is

needed is a reorientation of effort away from providing subsidies for such areas

towards making available more practical assistance, in both retraining and in

migrating, to those households willing to take advantage of it.

Acknowledgement The map was drawn in the Cartography Unit at University College, London.

The multipurpose social research survey: a service for academic researchers Multipurpose surveys have been used for many years to meet some of the research needs of industry and business. The usual form of such surveys is:

(i) Interviews are carried out at regular intervals throughout the year (e.g. quarterly) with a national sample of the adult population.

(ii) They are financed by several participants. Approximately one-third of the cost is met by one substantial participant with a continuing interest in research; the remainder comes from a changing supply of people and organizations who pay a comparatively small sum as an ' entry fee ' plus a fixed rate for each question that is included in the questionnaire to meet their particular needs and interests.

(iii) Each participant receives in return tapes or cards containing all the information collected in response to his specific questions, plus all the usual socio-economic/ demographic classification data (age, sex, social class, region, etc). The parent body retains the full tapes of all the data collected, but is not free to use those parts paid for by a particular participant without that participant's consent.

Since 1971 there have been two notable extensions of multipurpose surveys: first, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys has launched the General Household Survey which provides several government departments with opportunities to partici pate. Thus, in the present round of the GHS the subsidiary participants include the Home Office, the Department of the Environment, DHSS, and the DES. Second, in the United States, the National Opinion Research Centre (NORC) at the University of

Chicago launched in 1971 a multipurpose survey for the benefit of academic social science researchers. This has proved so popular with researchers that, in order to accommodate all would-be participants this year, NORC has had to extend the questionnaire almost to the limits of fieldwork feasibility.

The SSRC Survey Unit is now organizing a comparable multipurpose survey for academic social researchers in this country. Its advantages to subsidiary participants will be: 1. To obtain, from a national sample, data for comparison with more intensive local or

regional surveys. For example, a survey of ' regional identification' or ' sense of local community' could well benefit if its findings could be compared with identical

measures applied to a sample of the whole population of Great Britain.

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.88 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:28:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

The multipurpose social research survey 267

2. To pre-test on a national sample the strength or weakness of possible hypotheses they have in mind for their more intensive studies. For example, an hypothesis that par ticipation in certain recreation activities is more dependent on the availability of facilities than on available leisure time or disposable income could be tested on a broad basis before elaboration at a more detailed level.

3. To accumulate from a series of comparatively large national samples adequate information about the behaviour, attitudes and circumstances of minority groups, e.g. women at work with children of school-age, the retired worker, those living in racially mixed neighbourhoods.

4. To examine comparatively infrequent events at short notice. For example, the impact of spectacular scandals on public confidence in the integrity of local government could be tapped with a national sample.

5. To undertake ' trend' research by participating in the survey over a period of years. For example, a researcher investigating the propensity to migrate in pursuit of job opportunities might well need a much longer time-perspective than could be provided by a single exclusive survey.

The Survey Unit's multipurpose survey will, to begin with, take the following form. 1. Frequency and duration. It will be carried out twice a year-spring and autumn

with the field work on each occasion extended over four weeks. 2. Scale. A national survey with a sample of 2,000 adults at each survey. 3. Sampling. A rigorously designed random probability sample with a low level of

clustering and drawn from the Electoral Registers (100 wards, 20 per ward). 4. Questionnaire content. The length of the questionnaire will be such that it will not

take on average more than 45 minutes interviewing time. Between a third and half of this time will be reserved for research carried out by the Survey Unit. The remaining interviewing time will be ' on sale ' to other participants-some of whom

might well be academics from overseas spending a sabbatical in this country and wishing to obtain cross-national information.

5. Data distribution. All participants will be given data on cards or magnetic tape, including, in addition to their own material, a full set of national classification data.

All data will be deposited in the SSRC Survey Archive at the University of Essex. 6. Costs. For each half-yearly survey approximately half the time, and therefore half

the cost, will come from the Unit's budget. The other half will come from the subsidiary participants on the following basis:

(i) Entry fee: ?150. (ii) For each question included in the questionnaire at their specific request:

between ?50 and ?175 depending on complexity of the question and coding requirements. Thus, a participant who wanted, say, five questions included would pay ?400-?1,000, a very good bargain for a national probability sample of 2000 adults. Fees for batteries of pre-coded items will be negotiable.

7. Timing. The first survey will go into the field in April, 1974 and thereafter fieldwork will be in October and April each year. To meet these fieldwork dates, the full questionnaire must be assembled in its final form by mid-February and mid-August respectively.

The multipurpose survey represents an opportunity for human geographers to pilot hypotheses, test localized results against a national sample and to build up longi tudinal data files. The ward basis of sampling means that correlation between data from individual sampling points and the Census Ward Library will, where appropriate, be possible. Facilities would exist for larger sampling fractions (at cost) in areas of particular interest to individual researchers.

Enquiries from readers of Area are welcomed and should be addressed to Dr Norman Perry, SSRC Survey Unit, Hanover House, High Holborn, London WC1.

Norman Perry

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.88 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:28:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions