DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06805.v1
title: Four-County Study of Chinese Local Government and Political Economy, 1990
title: Version 1

description: This survey focuses on the views and behaviors of the mass public in China with respect to economic and governmental factors at the local countryside level in the post-Mao era. The data were collected approximately eight months after the June 1989 conflict in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in the household by advanced students from Beijing University. Major topics addressed include perceived seriousness of problems such as health care, pricing, public order, industrial development, economic well-being, consumer behavior, personal problems and how to overcome them, perceived local problems, views about leaders and important groups, political interest, media behavior, civic competence and political reform, and perceptions of injustice. Demographic variables include sex, age, ethnicity, education level, occupation, marital status, military service, household income, political party affiliation, age and number of children, and the number of people in the household.
description: The data contain a weight variable (M0011) that should be used in analyzing the data. The study design called for approximately equal sized samples within each county, which varied in population size. The weight variable takes into account the resultant unequal selection probabilities across the four counties. Each respondent within a given county has the same weight. Use of this weight variable is appropriate when making descriptive statements about the sample as a whole.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Created online analysis version with question text..
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS1: Data File
description: face-to-face interview 
(1) The data available for download are not weighted, and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis. (2) To protect respondent confidentiality, codes in variables M7002 and M7003 were blanked by the principal investigator, and the names of the counties, townships, and villages corresponding to codes in variables M0003, M0004, and M0005 were intentionally omitted. (3) Value labels for unknown codes were added in several variables. (4) Several values in variables M2084, M3111, M3121, and M3131 were recoded in order to conform to the valid values listed in the original documentation. (5) The CASEID variable was created for use with online analysis.
description: Adult population aged 18 and older residing in four counties in the People's Republic of China in 1990 who were physically and mentally able to take part.
description: The sampling went through four stages. Four counties were selected using nonprobability techniques. Probability procedures were used for subsequent sampling. Five townships were initially selected in each county and then three villages within each township. These units were selected with probability proportionate to size (pps) with stratification by income level being introduced at the township stage. In addition, each county seat was selected as a self-representing area. Within each village, individual respondents were drawn from household listings, using interval sampling. Approximately the same number of respondents were targeted in each village, and roughly equal numbers of respondents were targeted from each county as well.