Social Audit... Research Findings - The Survey Sample

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2.1    The Survey Sample

Before proceeding with the analysis of the survey data brief mention needs to be made about the size of the sample, and it’s socio-economic and demographic characteristics. No questionnaire survey will achieve a 100% response rate and as such conclusions about the wider population (in this case the population of Cwmparc, Treorchy and Ynyswen) will be based upon a sample of that population. The validity and reliability of these conclusions are therefore dependent upon the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the sample, matching, or at least demonstrating a close fit with those of the general population. However, questionnaire surveys will inevitably appeal more to particular types of individual and particular social groups more than others. This is a key dilemma of social science research and one of the reasons why the PCR utilizes a triangulated research design when conducting social audits. Additionally when conducting the survey itself a combination of sampling methods is used to try and ensure a balanced and representative sample. The survey results show that it does appear to have been reasonably successful in striking this balance. For example, there is a roughly even split between the sexes (55% of the sample are female and 45% are male) whilst the fact that only 2% of the sample claimed to be from an ethnic minority is reflective of the Rhondda Valleys ethnic make up (the 2001 census recorded a gender split of 49% males and 51% females, and an ethnic minority population of 0.6%). However, as can be seen in Table 1, there is an under representation of the younger sections of the population with only 14% of the sample aged between 10 and 25 years old and 36% aged over 59 years. For a variety of reasons this is a common characteristic of questionnaire surveys and as such is to be expected. To offset this imbalance young people were specifically targeted in the focus groups.  

Table 1: Age Structure of the Survey Sample.  

The sample also appears to be reasonably representative in terms of key socio-economic variables. For example, although just over three-quarters (76%) of the sample lived in owner occupied housing, a figure which compares favorably with results from the 2001 census (see table 2). This reflects traditionally high levels of owner occupation in the Valleys generally and the actual composition of housing in the area - whilst the proportions in rented housing match trends identified in the PCR’s 2001 survey.

Table 2: Housing Status of Sample (%) 

Finally, as can be seen from Table 3, the sample includes a good cross section of the population in terms of economic status. Nearly one third (29%) of the sample were in either full time, part time or self employment, approximately one third (34%) of the sample retired and just over one fifth (21%) classed themselves as either unemployed (14%) or permanently sick (7%). Whilst this demonstrates an under representation of  working population compared to census data which shows 51% of the economically active population to be in employment this is to be expected from a survey conducted largely during standard working hours.  There is also a corresponding over representation of the unemployed who constitute 14% of the sample but constitute just 3.6% of the economically active population according to the 2001 census. 

Table 3: Economic Status of Survey Sample.  

Finally, nearly one fifth (19%) of the sample claimed to be Welsh Speaker of which 57% reported being fluent Welsh Speakers and 43% described themselves as learners. Demand for Welsh language classes was the largest single category of responses to a question which asked respondents about what adult education opportunities they would like to see developed in the area, constituting 28% of responses to this question.  

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