Community Indicators Survey 1999: National Sample

Produced By: Princeton Survey Research Associates, , Princeton, NJ: Princeton Survey Research Associates

Funding Agency/Sponsor: The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Author: The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Abstract (CPANDA): To provide a comparative benchmark for a set of 26 local area surveys conducted for the Knight Foundation's Community Indicators Project, this national survey measured Americans' civic engagement and attitudes concerning seven topic areas: education, arts and culture, children and social welfare, community development, homelessness, literacy, and citizenship. Questions relating specifically to arts and culture include frequency of attendance at arts events or museums and satisfaction with arts and cultural opportunities. The interview protocol for the national survey was nearly identical to the protocol for the local area surveys also conducted for this project. The Community Indicators Project was undertaken to document the social health of the 26 communities in which the Knight brothers published newspapers. The study was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Abstract (Author):

Methodology (CPANDA) : Princeton Survey Research Associates conducted telephone interviews, using random-digit dialing, with a nationally representative sample of 1,206 adults (18+) living in telephone households in the continental United States. The interviews were conducted from October 11 through November 14, 1999. A disproportionately stratified sample was employed, so that the final sample of completed interviews would contain a disproportionately large number of African-American and Hispanic respondents, to permit analyses of these groups. Interviews were completed in either English or Spanish, according to the preference of the respondent. The results were weighted to correct for the deliberate over-sampling of African-American and Hispanic respondents and to make the sample more representative of the population with respect to gender, age, race, and education. The response rate for the survey was 41%.