The Financial Literacy survey is part of a World Bank Financial Governance/Consumer Protection in Financial Services Program in ECCU5 Countries. The Program aims to improve the levels of consumer protection and financial literacy in these countries—and thereby strengthen consumer confidence in the financial sectors. To this end the World Bank commissioned to the Alpha Research a baseline national representative survey. The objective of the study is to assess the level of financial literacy and consumer confidence of households and to outline the peculiarities in different target groups prior to the implementation of the action plan for increasing the financial literacy of the general population and in particular of the lowincome groups.
Kind of Data
Sample survey data [ssd]
Unit of Analysis
Household, Individual
Scope
Notes
- Attitudes and opinions regarding the financial market
- Information on Financial Services
- Financial literacy
- Managing household finances
Coverage
Geographic Coverage
National
Universe
A total of 1432 respondents from a general population (18+) were interviewed in their homes. Additional booster sample of 186 youth aged 16-17 was implemented.
Producers and sponsors
Primary investigators
Name
Alpha Research
Funding Agency/Sponsor
Name
World Bank
Sampling
Sampling Procedure
Definition of sample size and sample frame
Sample size: based on statistical calculations in order to obtain max. standard deviation +/- 2.5% .
- Main sample - 1500 respondents general population
- Booster – 300 respondents 16-17 years old
Sample frame: random, two-staged stratified sample with probability, proportional to the size of the location. The sample include both urban and rural areas and is based on two stratification criteria:
- NUTS region (6 regions – North-West, North-Central, North-East, South-West, South-Central, South-East)
- Type of location (5 groups – Capital; Regional center with more than 100000 citizens, Regional center with less than 100000 citizens, Small town, Village)
Implementation of the sampling procedure
- All NUTS regions in Bulgaria have been ranged in descending order according to the size of the population.
- At the first stage the sample was distributed proportionally on the size of population in each of the 30 (6 NUTS X 5 type of location groups) strata different from zero.
- A cumulative column with the number of locations in each region was prepared. This cumulative column is used for defining the number of the sample points at the second stage of the sample and respectively – the number of the respondents in each location (proportionally to its’ size).
- The sample step was calculated according to the following formula: Sample step = Number of population in the region (N) divided on the number of respondents in the sample.
- A random starting number was defined.
- A number of 10 respondents in each sample nest have been set in order to minimize the influence of correlation error within the sample nest. The largest locations include a higher number of sample nests.
- The number of sample nests and the number of respondents in each location have been defined, proportionally to their size.
- At a second-stage, using the random selection based on the “last birthday in the household”, the respondents were selected within each sample point.
- The sample is representative for the adult population (18+).
- Additional sample booster of young people (16-17 years old) was prepared according to the same criteria.
Response Rate
A total number of 1800 respondents were reached and 1618 interviews were conducted:
- Main sample: total number of 1500 respondents were reached and 1432 were conducted:
* Response rate – 95%
* Refusal rate - 5%
* Main reason for refusals: the length of interview
- Booster sample of young citizens aged 16 – 17 y.o.: total number of 300 respondents were reached and 186 interviews were conducted:
* Response rate – 62%
* Refusal rate – 38%
* Main reason for refusals: the subject of the survey
Data Collection
Dates of Data Collection
Start
End
2010-05-17
2010-05-25
Data Collection Mode
Face-to-face [f2f]
Supervision
The supervisors’ team did quality control on the interviewers’ work from the head office in Sofia. 20% (325 respondents) of the total sample were back checked by phone:
- 295 respondents were contacted personally and confirmed that they were interviewed.
- 30 respondents were not available at the time of control, but another member of the household confirmed that the interview was conducted.
Consistence and logic check on all completed questionnaires was carried out by the central office staff.
No weighting procedures were applied.
Data Collection Notes
Development of training materials, delivery of trainings for supervisors and interviewers. Conducting a pilot survey.
- The team was been given a special briefing session before the beginning of the study. They were acquainted with the survey objectives and tasks, the instruction for conducting the interview and the peculiarities of the questionnaire’s structure.
- 15 pilot interviews were conducted in order to test how the questionnaire would work in a local environment. Average length of the interview: 60 minutes. The shortest interview was 40 minutes and the longest - 90 minutes.
- The general observations from the pilot test were:
* The questionnaire was twice longer than the 30 minutes length pointed out in the TOR.
* There were long options that required repeat of question. The suggestion was to use a show card with the possible answers that could be shown to the respondents.
Fieldwork/Interviewing process
- The fieldwork was conducted by the team of 75 interviewers from Alpha Research. The average number of interviews per interviewer was 21.
- The fieldwork manager in the head office in Sofia was in permanent contact with the regional supervisors. There were no significant difficulties during the survey fieldwork.
- The interviews were conducted face-to-face at respondents’ homes during the following time schedule:
* On weekdays – between 9.00 – 12.00h and 17:30 - 20:30h
* During the weekend – between 10:00 - 20:00h
* The average length of one interview was 55 minutes
Questionnaires
Questionnaires
- The questionnaire is based on the model Financial Literacy Survey questionnaire used in Romania in order to achieve comparison of the results between the countries.
- Questions from previous surveys on financial literacy issues conducted in Bulgaria have been included in the questionnaire as well. This allows comparison of the survey results with those of previous studies.
- The questionnaire was reviewed with the relevant institutions – Bulgarian National Bank, Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, World Bank.
Data Processing
Other Processing
Entering and cleaning data and preparation of clean data file (SPSS) for the main sample and for the booster.
Access policy
Citation requirements
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Disclaimer and copyrights
Disclaimer
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.