DOI: 10.3886/icpsr35548.v1
title: Afrobarometer Round 5: The Quality of Democracy and Governance in Ghana, 2012
title: Version 1

description: The Afrobarometer is a comparative series of public attitude surveys that collects and disseminates data regarding Africans' views on democracy, governance, the economy, civil society, and related issues. The data are collected from nationally representative samples in face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent's choice. Standard topics for the Afrobarometer include attitudes toward and evaluations of democracy, governance and economic conditions, political participation, national identity, and social capital. In addition, Round 5 surveys included special modules on taxation; gender issues; crime, conflict and insecurity; globalization; and social service delivery. The surveys also collect a large set of socio-demographic indicators such as age, gender, education level, poverty level, language and ethnicity, and religious affiliation, as well as political party affiliation. Afrobarometer Round 5 surveys were implemented in 35 countries. This particular data collection was concerned with the attitudes and opinions of the citizens of Ghana, and also includes a number of "country-specific questions," many of which are oil-related, designed specifically for the Ghana survey.
description: Variables used in the Afrobarometer fall into the following categories:
Democracy: Variables examine the popular understanding of, support for, and satisfaction with democracy, as well as any desire to return to (or experiment with) authoritarian alternatives. Respondents' support for democratic institutions is also explored.
Governance: Variables examine the demand for (and satisfaction with) effective, accountable, and clean government as well as respondents' judgments of overall governance performances and social service delivery.
Elections: Variables examine participation in campaigns and elections, the quality of electoral processes, and respondents' voting intentions.
Macro-economics and Markets: Variables examine citizen assessments of national and personal economic and living conditions, the direction of the country, and respondents' evaluations of government's performance in managing the economy and creating jobs. The Ghana survey also includes several variables examining respondents' perspectives on the management of a newly-discovered oil deposit.
Poverty: Variables examine how often respondents experience shortages of basic essentials (food, water, and medical care) in their daily lives. Indicators of basic living conditions are also included.
Social Capital: Variables examine whom respondents trust, respondents' reliance on informal networks and associations, and evaluations of the trustworthiness of institutions.
Conflict and Crime: Variables examine perceptions of safety and experiences with crime and violence.
Participation: Variables examine respondents' participation in development efforts, voting, political processes, and protests.
National Identity: Variables examine how respondents identify themselves relative to ethnicity, class, and nationality.
The dataset also includes a wide variety of demographic variables describing the respondent's background, housing conditions, and community.
description: The data are not weighted. However, this collection includes the weight variable WITHINWT that should be used in any analysis. This weight was created to account for individual selection probabilities.
description: Response Rates: 72.9 percent
description: The Afrobarometer uses a clustered, stratified, multi-stage, area probability sample design. The sample is designed as a representative cross-section of all citizens of voting age in a given country. The goal is to give every adult citizen an equal and known chance of selection for interview. This objective is reached by (a) strictly applying random selection methods at every stage of sampling and by (b) applying sampling with probability proportionate to population size wherever possible. A randomly selected sample of 1,200 cases allows inferences to national adult populations with a margin of sampling error of no more than plus or minus 3 percent with a confidence level of 95 percent. If the sample size is increased to 2,400, the confidence interval shrinks to plus or minus 2 percent.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Afrobarometer Round 5: The Quality of Democracy and Governance in Ghana, 2012
description: Citizens of Ghana aged 18 years or older. Smallest Geographic Unit: Region
description: face-to-face interview; paper and pencil interview (PAPI)Additional information about the Afrobarometer Survey can be found at the Afrobarometer Web site.