Survey of Public Participation in the Arts 1982 [United States]

Produced By: Bureau of the Census, 1982, Washington, D.C.

Funding Agency/Sponsor: National Endowment for the Arts

Author: National Endowment for the Arts

Abstract (CPANDA): This data collection offers information on Americans' participation in the arts, including ballet, opera, plays, museums, and concerts, during 1982. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and conducted by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, this survey was a supplement to a larger national survey, the National Crime Survey (NCS). Respondents were asked a core set of questions about their past-year participation in, and frequency of attending, art performances and events in the following categories: jazz music, classical music, opera, musicals, plays (nonmusical), ballet, other dance, art museums, arts-crafts fairs, and historical park/monument sites. Subsets of respondents were also asked questions in one or more of six additional topic areas: 1) barriers to participation; 2) socialization experiences relative to the arts; 3) where respondents attended arts events; 4) musical preferences; 5) additional leisure activities; 6) consumption of arts programming on television, radio and pre-recorded audio.

Methodology (CPANDA) : A total of 17,254 completed surveys were collected from a sample of U.S. households. The sample was selected using a stratified, multi-stage, clustered design and drawn from Census Bureau population counts. All non-institutionalized individuals living in the U.S. were eligible. All those above age 18 in selected households were asked to respond. The survey had an overall response rate of more than 85 percent. One-quarter of the interviews were conducted over the phone; three-quarters face-to-face. The survey was appended to the National Crime Survey, conducted by the Census Bureau for the Department of Justice. The National Crime Survey is an on-going household sample survey. About one in twelve NCS households was asked to respond to the SPPA questions. From January to October the questionnaire included the core set of questions (described above) and one of six rotating sets of questions. The November and December interviews (n=2,678) included the core set of questions and all of the rotating question sets. The data included a weight variable to make the sample representative of the U.S. population by age, gender and ethnicity.