Volunteer Activities Survey 2018
South Africa, 2018
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ZAF_2018_VAS_v01_M
Volunteer Activities Survey 2018
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | ZAF |
Other Household Survey [hh/oth]
Stats SA conducted the first Volunteer Activities Survey (VAS 2010) in the second quarter of 2010 and the second (VAS 2014) in the second quarter of 2014. VAS 2018 is the third survey in the series which was conducted in the second quarter of 2018.
Statistics South Africa. Volunteer Activities Survey 2018 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2020. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/176g-k445
The Volunteer Activities Survey (VAS) is a household-based survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The VAS collects information on the volunteer activities of individuals aged 15 years and older in South Africa. The respondents were selected from households who took part in the second quarter Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). Volunteer activities covers unpaid non-compulsory work; that is, the time individuals give without pay to activities performed either through an organization or directly for others outside their own household.
Data on volunteering provides important information on skills application, social network development, social capital and quality of life outcomes. The main aim of the survey is to provide information on the scale of volunteer work and bring into view the sizeable part of the labour force that is invisible in existing labour statistics. The objectives of the VAS are:
• To collect reliable data about people who are involved in volunteer activities.
• To identify organization-based and direct volunteering.
• To give a profile of those engaged in volunteer activities.
• To estimate the economic value of volunteer work.
Sample survey data [ssd]
Households and individuals
Version
Version 01: Edited, anonymised dataset for licensed distribution
2020
Scope
The scope of the Volunteer Activities Survey includes: types of volunteer activities, reasons for volunteer activity, time spent on volunteer activity, and monetary value for volunteer activity.
Coverage
National coverage
The lowest level of geographic aggregation covered by the data is province.
The target population of the survey consists of individuals aged 15 years and older who live in South Africa and who are members of households living in dwellings that have been selected to take part in the second quarter Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS).
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| Statistics South Africa |
Sampling
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) sample frame was used for data collection in the VAS. The sample for the QLFS is based on a stratified two-stage design with probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling of primary sampling units (PSUs) in the first stage, and sampling of dwelling units (DUs) with systematic sampling in the second stage. The frame was developed as a general-purpose household survey frame that can be used by all other household surveys irrespective of the sample size requirement of the survey. The sample is based on information collected by Statistics SA during the 2001 Population Census and is designed to be representative at the provincial level and within provinces at the metro/non-metro level. Within the metros, the sample is further distributed by geography type. The four geography types are: urban formal, urban informal, farms and tribal land.
Weighting
The sampling weights for the data collected from the sampled households are constructed so that the responses could be properly expanded to represent the entire civilian population of South Africa. The weights are the result of calculations involving several factors, including original selection probabilities, adjustment for non-response, and benchmarking to known population estimates from the Demography division of Stats SA.
The base weight is defined as the product of the provincial inverse sampling rate (ISR) and the three adjustment factors, namely adjustment factor for informal PSUs, adjustment factor for subsampling of growth PSUs, and an adjustment factor to account for small EAs excluded from the sampling frame (i.e. EAs with fewer than 25 households).
Final survey weights
The final survey weights are constructed using regression estimation to calibrate to the known population counts at the national level population estimates (which are supplied by the Demography division) cross-classified by 5-year age groups, gender and race, and provincial population estimates by broad age groups are used for calibration weighting. The 5-year age groups are: 0–4, 5–9, 10–14, 55–59, 60–64, and 65 and over. The provincial level age groups are: 0–14, 15–34, 35–64, and 65 years and over. The final weights are constructed in such a manner that all persons within a household would have the same weight.
Survey instrument
The 2018 VAS questionnaire consists of the following sections:
- Particulars of the dwelling
- Households at selected dwelling unit
- Response details
- Main activities
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2018-04 | 2018-06 |
The survey is household-based, consisting of two stages. The first stage involves identifying individuals who were involved in volunteer activities, through the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) conducted in the third quarter of 2018 (Q3: 2018). The second stage involves follow-up interviews with the individuals who were involved in volunteer activities, to determine the type of activities and whether the activities performed were organisation-based or direct volunteering or both (organisation-based and direct volunteering).
In Q3: 2018, questions on volunteer activities were included in the QLFS questionnaire and were asked of all household members aged 15 years and older. The screening process for VAS was performed to ensure that only persons eligible for the VAS (persons who indicated that they were involved in some volunteer work during the QLFS) were re-visited. Approximately 3 434 individuals eligible for VAS were followed up to conduct detailed interviews about their volunteer activities during the reference period. The QLFS data were collected in the middle two weeks of the month throughout the quarter, while VAS data collection was done in the last week of a month, throughout the quarter.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | www.datafirst.uct.ac.za | support@data1st.org |
Public use files, available to all
Statistics South Africa. Volunteer Activities Survey 2018 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa [producer], 2020. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/176g-k445
Disclaimer and copyrights
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.
(c) 2018 , Statistics South Africa
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst Helpdesk | University of Cape Town | support@data1st.org |
Metadata production
DDI_ZAF_2018_VAS_v01_M
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | Metadata producer |
| Development Economics Data Group | The World Bank | Metadata adapted for Microdata Library |
2021-02-02
Metadata version
Version 01: This metadata was downloaded from DataFirst website(https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/central). The following two metadata information has been edited – Document and Survey ID.