study: Four-County Study of Chinese Local Government and Political Economy, 1990 >

Four-County Study of Chinese Local Government and Political Economy, 1990 (ICPSR 6805)

Principal Investigator(s): Eldersveld, Samuel J.; Jackson, John E.; Jennings, M. Kent; Lieberthal, Kenneth; Manion, Melanie; Oksenberg, Michael; Chen, Zhefu; He, Hefeng; Shen, Mingming; Xie, Qingkui; Yang, Fengchun; Yang, Ming

Summary:

This survey focuses on the views and behaviors of the mass public in China with respect to economic and governmental factors at the local countryside level in the post-Mao era. The data were collected approximately eight months after the June 1989 conflict in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in the household by advanced students from Beijing University. Major topics addressed include perceived seriousness of problems such as health care, pricing, public order, industrial development, economic well-being, consumer behavior, personal problems and how to overcome them, perceived local problems, views about leaders and important groups, political interest, media behavior, civic competence and political reform, and perceptions of injustice. Demographic variables include sex, age, ethnicity, education level, occupation, marital status, military service, household income, political party affiliation, age and number of children, and the number of people in the household.

Access Notes

  • These data are available only to users at ICPSR member institutions. Because you are not logged in, we cannot verify that you will be able to download the data.

Dataset(s)

Study Description

Citation

Eldersveld, Samuel J., John E. Jackson, M. Kent Jennings, Kenneth Lieberthal, Melanie Manion, Michael Oksenberg, Zhefu Chen, Hefeng He, Mingming Shen, Qingkui Xie, Fengchun Yang, and Ming Yang. Four-County Study of Chinese Local Government and Political Economy, 1990. ICPSR06805-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-11-13. doi:10.3886/ICPSR06805.v2

Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06805.v2

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Funding

This survey was funded by:

  • Henry Luce Foundation (INT-8913601 (NSF))
  • National Science Foundation (INT-8913601 (NSF))
  • Chinese State Education Commission

Scope of Study

Subject Terms:   attitudes, consumer attitudes, economic conditions, economic reform, government, government corruption, household income, income distribution, life satisfaction, media use, party leaders, political attitudes, political efficacy, political participation, political persecution, political reform, private ownership, public opinion, shopping, standard of living, social issues, social justice

Geographic Coverage:   China (Peoples Republic), Global

Time Period:  

  • 1990

Date of Collection:  

  • 1990-02--1990-03

Unit of Observation:   individual

Universe:   Adult population aged 18 and older residing in four counties in the People's Republic of China in 1990 who were physically and mentally able to take part.

Data Types:   survey data

Data Collection Notes:

(1) The data available for download are not weighted, and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis. (2) To protect respondent confidentiality, codes in variables M7002 and M7003 were blanked by the principal investigator, and the names of the counties, townships, and villages corresponding to codes in variables M0003, M0004, and M0005 were intentionally omitted. (3) Value labels for unknown codes were added in several variables. (4) Several values in variables M2084, M3111, M3121, and M3131 were recoded in order to conform to the valid values listed in the original documentation. (5) The CASEID variable was created for use with online analysis.

Methodology

Sample:   The sampling went through four stages. Four counties were selected using nonprobability techniques. Probability procedures were used for subsequent sampling. Five townships were initially selected in each county and then three villages within each township. These units were selected with probability proportionate to size (pps) with stratification by income level being introduced at the township stage. In addition, each county seat was selected as a self-representing area. Within each village, individual respondents were drawn from household listings, using interval sampling. Approximately the same number of respondents were targeted in each village, and roughly equal numbers of respondents were targeted from each county as well.

Weight:   The data contain a weight variable (M0011) that should be used in analyzing the data. The study design called for approximately equal sized samples within each county, which varied in population size. The weight variable takes into account the resultant unequal selection probabilities across the four counties. Each respondent within a given county has the same weight. Use of this weight variable is appropriate when making descriptive statements about the sample as a whole.

Mode of Data Collection:   face-to-face interview

Extent of Processing:  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:

  • Created online analysis version with question text.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release:  1996-11-21

Version History:

  • 2007-11-13 Value labels were added to the data file. Stata setup files, and SAS and Stata supplemental files have been added to this data collection. Value labels for unknown codes were added, and several values in variables M2084, M3111, M3121, and M3131 were recoded. The CASEID variable was created for use with online analysis. The codebook is being released in Portable Document Format (PDF) and includes question text. The data collection instrument was made into its own file.

Related Publications

Variables

Instructional Resources

  • ICPSR has created the following instructional guides that utilize data from this study:

    Additional materials can be found on our Resources for Instructors site.

  • Instructional guides that utilize this dataset are available:

    • Civic Participation and Demographics in Rural China: A Data-Driven Learning Guide - Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

      Demographics and civic participation are very closely linked in political science research. Civic participation is the involvement in activities intended to influence public policy and leadership. Though voting is the most popular form of civic participation, there are many ways that citizens can get involved in the political process.

      After China moved away from the commune system, they introduced a system of local (village) councils and committees. As a result, civic participation in China is more about people being a part of the discussion about political decisions than making political decisions, per se. Some non-traditional forms of civic participation in rural China include attending village meetings, voicing opinions, and contacting delegates.

      The goal of this exercise is to examine the relationship between demographic characteristics and different forms of civic participation in China. Crosstabulation will be used.

Utilities

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