Description: Topics covered in the questionnaire are: democracy and governance, national identity and pride, intergroup relations, immigrant related attitudes and behaviour, education, moral issues, personal wellbeing index, poverty and inequality, crime and safety, batho pele, voting, respondent characteristics, household characteristics, personal and household income variables.

Of the targeted population of 3500, 3032 responses (86.6%) were realised.

The data set for dissemination contains 3032 cases and 454 variables. Abstract: The primary objective of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) is to design, develop and implement a conceptually and methodologically robust study of changing social attitudes and values in South Africa. In meeting this objective, the HSRC is carefully and consistently monitoring and providing insight into changes in attitudes among various socio-demographic groupings. SASAS is intended to provide a unique long-term account of the social fabric of modern South Africa, and of how its changing political and institutional structures interact over time with changing social attitudes and values.

The survey is conducted annually and the 2020 survey is the seventeenth wave in the series.

The core module will remain constant for subsequent annual SASAS surveys with the aim of monitoring change and continuity in a variety of socio-economic and socio-political variables. In addition, a number of themes will be accommodated in rotation. The rotating element of the survey consists of two or more topic-specific modules in each round of interviewing and is directed at measuring a range of policy and academic concerns and issues that require more detailed examination at a specific point in time than the multi-topic core module would permit.

Face-to-face interview

National Population: Adults (aged 16 years and older)

SASAS has been designed to yield a representative sample of 3500 adult South African citizens aged 16 and older (with no upper age limit), in households geographically spread across the country's nine provinces. The sampling frame used for the survey was based on the 2011 census and a set of small area layers (SALs). Estimates of the population numbers for various categories of the census variables were obtained per SAL. In this sampling frame special institutions (such as hospitals, military camps, old age homes, schools and university hostels), recreational areas, industrial areas and vacant SALs were excluded before the drawing of the sample.

Small area layers (SALs) were used as primary sampling units and the estimated number of dwelling units (taken as visiting points) in the SALs as secondary sampling units. In the first sampling stage, the primary sampling units (SALs) were drawn with probability proportional to size, using the estimated number of dwelling units in a SAL as a measure of size. The dwelling units as secondary sampling units were defined as "separate (non-vacant) residential stands, addresses, structures, flats, homesteads, etc." In the second sampling stage a predetermined number of individual dwelling units (or visiting points) were drawn with equal probability in each of the drawn dwelling units. Finally, in the third sampling stage, a person was drawn with equal probability from all 16-year-olds and older persons in the drawn dwelling units.

Three explicit stratification variables were used, namely province, geographic type and majority population group. As stated earlier, within each stratum, the allocated number of primary sampling units (which could differ between different strata) was drawn using proportional to size probability sampling with the estimated number of dwelling units in the primary sampling units as a measure of size. In each of these primary sampling units, seven dwelling units were drawn. This resulted in a sample of 3032 individuals. A list of the 500 drawn SALs was given to geographic information specialists (GIS) and maps were then created for each of the 500 areas, indicating certain navigational beacons such as schools, roads churches etc.

Selection of individuals:

For each of the SASAS samples interviewers visited each visiting point drawn in the SALs (PSU) and listed all eligible persons for inclusion in the sample, that is all persons currently aged 16 years or older and resident at the selected visiting point. The interviewer then selected one respondent using a random selection procedure based on a Kish grid.