DOI: 10.7280/d17p4w
title: Annual Survey of Orange County 1984

description: The Orange County Annual Survey is in progress for three years. Since 1982
 in three consecutive surveys, the goal is to understand the nature of
 community life in Orange County. A related purpose is to examine trends in
 demographics and opinions over time as the county grows, matures, and
 inevitably changes. The three surveys together offer a unique opportunity
 for decision makers and academics to analyze the social, economic, and
 political evolution of a major metropolitan area. Other regions of the
 United States today must rely on the 1980 Census which, for geographic
 areas which are changing and growing, represents outdated information. One
 topic receives considerable attention this year. It is the political
 attitudes of Orange County residents. There is confusion about the current
 nature of Orange County. This is especially relevant in a year in which
 the presidential vote, the legislative elections, and residents responses
 to this year's state and county ballot initiatives were the focus of
 great attention. The sample size is 1,003 Orange County adult
 residents.Online data analysis & additional documentation in Link
 below.
description: The sample for the 1984 Orange County Survey consists of 1,003 randomly
 selected residents who were interviewed by telephone. The sample is
 stratified geographically, with half of the sample selected from north of
 the Santa Ana River and half from the south. For data analyses, the sample
 is statistically weighted to represent the actual distribution of the
 Orange County population. 
 
 The sample in each area was chosen using a computer program which randomly
 generates telephone numbers from among working blocks of telephone
 exchanges. A working block is one that contains numbers in use. The total
 of telephone numbers generated within an exchange was in proportion to the
 number of residential phones represented by that exchange in the northern
 part of the county or the southern part of the county. Using this
 procedure, approximately 2,200 telephone numbers from the south and
 approximately 2,2,00 telephone numbers from the north were drawn. This
 procedure of random digit dialing ensures that unlisted as well as listed
 numbers are included in the sample, Also, since over 95 percent of the
 households in Orange County have telephones, random dialing yields a
 sample representative of the population of Orange County.
 
 The Troldahl-Carter Method was used in randomly selecting which adult
 member of the household was to be interviewed. This method consists of
 enumerating the total number of adults in the household and the total
 number of men in the household. Then, using a prearranged grid, the
 interviewer selects the individual in the household for interviewing.
 
 As further evidence of the representativeness of the sample chosen by the
 above methods, characteristics of the sample were compared to
 characteristics of the total Orange County population using the 1980
 census. On the basis of age, income, sex, marital status, household size,
 and home ownership, the sample is representative of the population of
 Orange County. Characteristics of the 1982 and 1983 Orange County Survey
 samples were also contrasted with the characteristics of the 1984 Orange
 County Survey sample. Marital status, ethnicity, age, sex, and education
 were closely comparable in the three surveys.The sampling error for this
 survey is plus or minus three percentage points. This means that if this
 survey were to be repeated 100 times, in 95 out the 100 times the answers
 obtained for a particular question would match those we obtained in this
 survey within three points. The sampling error for any particular
 sub-group would be greater. These calculations assume that the data were
 collected under ideal circumstances. Since there are a� large number of
 practical problems in conducting social surveys, the actual sampling error
 for any particular result might be slightly higher.
 
 As noted above, the interviewing for the Orange County Survey was done by
 telephone. Cost considerations and methodological improvements have led to
 telephone surveys' increased adoption in the social sciences. In
 addition, several studies show similar quality in telephone and
 face-to-face interviews. Interviewers were closely supervised during the
 data collection. Interviewers participated in a two-hour training session
 on the Orange County Survey instrument. Supervisors were available during
 the telephone interviewing to answer questions of interviewers or
 respondents. The telephone system used also allowed supervisors to monitor
 interviews to correct for errors in administering the questionnaire.
 
 The interviewing was done between September 5th and September 22nd, 1984.
 On weekdays, interviewing occurred between the hours of 5:30 and 10:00
 p.m., and on Saturday between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. For each number in
 the sample, at least four call back attempts were made. The resulting
 sample of 1,003 represents 25 percent of the numbers dialed (4,021 in
 all). For 13 percent, a refusal to cooperate was received. The majority of
 calls not completed (56%) was due either to nonworking residential phone
 numbers or to o answers, which may indicate nonresidential phone numbers.
 The refusal rate for the survey was 34 percent, that is, 25 percent
 completions plus 13 percent refusals divided into 13 percent. This is
 consistent with the general refusal rate in surveys, which varies between
 25 percent and 40 percent.
 
 The Orange County Survey, as shown in Appendix D, includes 86 questions.
 There were also a few open-ended questions. Individuals were asked to name
 their residential zip code. In addition, there is a question on the
 respondent's occupation. Categories for coding were developed prior
 to interviewing, and reliability tests indicated that the coding of
 open-ended questions was conducted accurately.