DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04694.v1
title: Northwest Area Foundation Social Indicators Survey, September-December 2003
title: Version 1

description: This study was designed to obtain information regarding
 community, neighborhood, local government, and community-based
 activities in an effort to discover ways of reducing poverty in the
 Northwestern states of Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota,
 Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington. Respondents were asked a series
 of questions relating to their attitudes toward their place of
 residence. They were asked how long they had lived at their current
 place of residence, what was the best thing about living there, and
 what changes they would make. Respondents were asked more specific
 questions about their immediate community and neighborhood such as
 whether they felt safe walking around during the day and at night,
 whether there were job opportunities, and how they perceived race
 relations and living conditions in their community. They were asked
 whether or not people in their community shared similar values as well
 as what sorts of attitudes people in their community had. For example,
 respondents were asked whether there was a sense of belonging, hope,
 worry, pride, anger, or boredom among members of their community. They
 were also asked about the importance of feeling like a member of a
 community and about their personal relationships with fellow
 neighbors. Other questions concerned their involvement in public
 affairs, from what sources they received their news, whether or not
 they trusted those news sources, and with what frequency they read the
 newspaper. Respondents were asked if they felt the government had the
 greatest responsibility in caring for citizens and whether the
 government cared more about individuals or larger interests.
 Respondents were also asked about their social activism such as
 volunteer work, donating blood, and attending government meetings.
 Other questions asked about their voting history, as well as their
 involvement with local church, sports, civic, and fraternal
 organizations. Respondents were asked about their geographic location
 including state, county, and town, whether their place of residence
 was considered urban or rural, and whether or not they lived near an
 Indian reservation. The survey also collected general information on
 the respondents such as gender, education, marital status, employment
status, and income.
description: Weights were calculated on two levels (state and region)
 using three demographic variables (age, sex, and household size).
 State weights are appropriate for analyses restricted to individual
 states. Region weights are appropriate for analyses of all eight
 states combined. If other combinations of states are required, then
 additional weights should be calculated. Since no one source provided
 all the weighting data required, two data sources were consulted in
 the calculation of the weights. Data on household size were taken from
 the 2000 United States Census (table available in Summary File 1 at
 http://www.census.gov). Data on age and sex were obtained from the
 Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program's 2002 population
 estimates (available at
 http://www.census.gov/popest/archives/2000s/vintage_2002/).
 State-level weights (variable name WTSTATE) were calculated by
 multiplying the individual weight variables:
 WTSTATE: Age Weight x Sex Weight x Household Size Weight.
 To account for the difference in state population sizes and each
 state's proportional contribution to the regional population, an
 additional weight was added to the region-level weighting equation
 (variable name WTREGION). This weight captured the percentage of the
 regional population that resides in the respondent's state, and data
 from the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program's 2002
 population estimates were used in the development of this weight.
 The region-level weights were calculated by multiplying the
 individual-level weight variables:
 WTREGION: Weight x Sex Weight x Household Size Weight x State
 Population Weight. 
 For cases that were missing data on one or more of the weighting
 variables, partial weights were calculated for cases using the data
 that were available. Data for two of the three weighting variables
 were available for 25 of the 28 cases excluded by the first missing
 data strategy. For these cases, the available data were multiplied and
 substituted for the zero value used in the first missing data
 strategy. Of the three remaining cases, two had data for one of the
 three weighting variables. For these cases, the weight for that
 individual variable was substituted for the zero value used in the
 first missing data strategy. Finally, a single case did not have data
 for any of the weighting variables, and in this case the zero weight
was preserved.
description: Response Rates: Response rate 1 = 32.8 percent, Response rate 2 =
 32.9 percent, Response rate 3 = 34.7 percent, Response rate 4 = 34.8
 percent. For documentation explaining the calculation of the different
 response rates, please see the "AAPOR Outcome Rate Documentation"
section of the codebook.
description: The final sample of 8,381 respondents was taken from an
initial screening of 96,628 phone calls.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Public File
DS2: Restricted File
description: Adults 18 and older living in the Northwestern region of
 the United States including the following states: Idaho, Iowa,
 Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and
Washington.
description: telephone interview(1) More information about the Northwest Area
 Foundation can be found online at http://www.nwaf.org/. (2) Responses
 to open-ended questions can be found in the codebook. (3) In the
 banner tables, the second category for the variable HH income (INCOME)
category should read "$18,000-$25,000."