Afrobarometer Round 5: The Quality of Democracy and Governance in Benin, 2011 (ICPSR 35465)

Version Date: Mar 19, 2015

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Principal Investigator(s):
Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy; Michael Bratton, Michigan State University; E. Gyimah-Boadi, Ghana Center for Democratic Development; Carolyn Logan, Michigan State University

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35465.v1

Version V1

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Summary

The Afrobarometer project was designed to collect and disseminate information regarding Africans' views on democracy, governance, economic reform, civil society, and quality of life. This particular survey was concerned with the attitudes and opinions of the citizens of Benin. Respondents in a face-to-face interview were asked to rate their president and the president's administration in overall performance, to state the most important issues facing their nation, and to evaluate the effectiveness of certain continental and international institutions. Opinions were gathered on the role of the government in improving the economy, whether corruption existed in local and national government, whether government officials were responsive to problems of the general population, and whether local government officials, the police, the courts, the overall criminal justice system, the National Electoral Commission, and the government broadcasting service could be trusted. Respondents were polled on their knowledge of the government, including the identification of government officials, their level of personal involvement in political, governmental, and community affairs, their participation in national elections, and the inclusiveness of the government. Economic questions addressed the past, present, and future of the country's and the respondents' economic conditions, and respondents' living conditions. Round 5 surveys included special modules on taxation; gender issues; crime, conflict and insecurity; globalization; and social service delivery. Background variables include age, gender, ethnicity, education, religious affiliation and participation, political party affiliation, language spoken most at home, whether the respondent was the head of household, current and past employment status, whether a close friend or relative had died from AIDS, and language used in interview. In addition, the interviewer's gender, race, and education level is provided.

Citation

Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy, Bratton, Michael, Gyimah-Boadi, E., and Logan, Carolyn. Afrobarometer Round 5: The Quality of Democracy and Governance in Benin, 2011. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-03-19. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35465.v1

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Funding

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Department for International Development (United Kingdom), Mo Ibrahim Foundation, World Bank, United States Agency for International Development

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

District

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2011-11 -- 2011-12

Date of Collection

2011-11-16 -- 2011-12-06

Data Collection Notes

  1. The setup files for this collection may contain characters with diacritical marks used in many African languages.

  2. Some open-ended responses (e.g., variables Q11OTHER, Q12OTHER, Q63PT2OTHER) in the data file, as well as all questions in the ICPSR Data Collection Instrument are only available in non-English languages specific to Benin (e.g., Fon, French, etc.).

  3. The original data collection was carried out by Institut de Recherche Empirique en Economie Politique (IREEP).

  4. Additional information about the Afrobarometer Survey can be found at the Afrobarometer Web site.

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Study Purpose

Afrobarometer is an independent, non-partisan research project that measures the social, political, and economic atmosphere in Africa. Afrobarometer surveys are conducted in 35 African countries and are repeated on a regular cycle. Because the instrument asks a standard set of questions, countries can be systematically compared. Trends in public attitudes are tracked over time. Results are shared with decision makers, policy advocates, civic educators, and researchers, as well as average Africans who wish to become more informed and active citizens.

Sample

The Afrobarometer uses a clustered, stratified, multi-stage, area probability sample design. The sample is designed as a representative cross-section of all citizens of voting age in a given country. The goal is to give every adult citizen an equal and known chance of selection for interview. This objective is reached by (a) strictly applying random selection methods at every stage of sampling and by (b) applying sampling with probability proportionate to population size wherever possible. A randomly selected sample of 1,200 cases allows inferences to national adult populations with a margin of sampling error of no more than plus or minus 3 percent with a confidence level of 95 percent. If the sample size is increased to 2,400, the confidence interval shrinks to plus or minus 2 percent. For further information on sampling, please visit the Afrobarometer Web site.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Citizens of Benin aged 18 years or older, excluding institutions.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

Variables used in the Afrobarometer fall into the following categories: Democracy: Variables examine the popular understanding of, support for, and satisfaction with democracy, as well as any desire to return to (or experiment with) authoritarian alternatives. Respondents' support for democratic institutions is also explored. Governance: Variables examine the demand for (and satisfaction with) effective, accountable, and clean government as well as respondents' judgments of overall governance performances and social service delivery. Elections: Variable examine participation in campaigns and elections, the quality of electoral processes, and respondents' voting intentions. Macro-economics and Markets: Variables examine citizen assessments of national and personal economic and living conditions, the direction of the country, and respondents' evaluations of government's performance in managing the economy and creating jobs. Poverty: Variables examine how often respondents experience shortages of basic essentials (food, water, and medical care) in their daily lives. Indicators of basic living conditions are also included. Social Capital: Variables examine whom respondents trust, respondents' reliance on informal networks and associations, and evaluations of the trustworthiness of institutions. Conflict and Crime: Variables examine perceptions of safety and experiences with crime and violence. Participation: Variables examine respondents' participation in development efforts, voting, political processes, and protests. National Identity: Variables examine how respondents identify themselves relative to ethnicity, class, and nationality. The dataset also includes a wide variety of demographic variables describing the respondent's background, housing conditions, and community.

Response Rates

62.3 percent

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Original Release Date

2015-03-19

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy, Michael Bratton, E. Gyimah-Boadi, and Carolyn Logan. Afrobarometer Round 5: The Quality of Democracy and Governance in Benin, 2011. ICPSR35465-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-03-19. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35465.v1

2015-03-19 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Standardized missing values.
  • Created online analysis version with question text.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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Weight

The data are not weighted. However, this collection contains the weight variable WITHINWT, which should be used when calculating national-level statistics. For further information on sampling, please visit the Afrobarometer Web site.

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Notes