Afrobarometer Round 5: The Quality of Democracy and Governance in Lesotho, 2012 (ICPSR 35551)

Version Date: Feb 12, 2015

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Principal Investigator(s):
Lipholo Makhetha, Advision Lesotho; Mamochaki Shale, Advision Lesotho; E. Gyimah-Boadi, Ghana Center for Democratic Development; Michael Bratton, Michigan State University; Robert Mattes, Institute for Democracy in South Africa; Carolyn Logan, Michigan State University

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35551.v2

Version V2

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Summary

The Afrobarometer is a comparative series of public attitude surveys that collects and disseminates data regarding Africans' views on democracy, governance, the economic, civil society, and related issues. The data are collected from nationally representative samples in face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent's choice. Standard topics for the Afrobarometer include attitudes toward and evaluations of democracy, governance and economic conditions, political participation, national identify, and social capital. In addition, Round 5 surveys included special modules on taxation; gender issues; crime, conflict and insecurity; globalization; and social service delivery. The surveys also collect a large set of socio-demographic indicators such as age, gender, education level, poverty level, language and ethnicity, and religious affiliation, as well as political party affiliation. Afrobarometer Round 5 surveys were implemented in 35 countries. This particular data collection was concerned with the attitudes and opinions of the citizens of Lesotho, and also includes a number of "country-specific questions" designed specifically for the Lesotho survey.

Citation

Makhetha, Lipholo, Shale, Mamochaki, Gyimah-Boadi, E., Bratton, Michael, Mattes, Robert, and Logan, Carolyn. Afrobarometer Round 5: The Quality of Democracy and Governance in Lesotho, 2012. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-02-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35551.v2

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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

access to information   bribery   cellular phones   citizenship   community involvement   community participation   computer use   corruption   democracy   developing nations   economic aid   economic change   economic conditions   education   elites   employment   equality   ethics   ethnic identity   freedom   freedom of speech   freedom of the press   gender   gender issues   gender roles   government   government corruption   government performance   health care   health care access   immigration   income   information sources   infrastructure   Internet   judicial corruption   legal systems   legislatures   living conditions   local government   media use   medical care   national interests   news media   police   police corruption   political attitudes   political behavior   political corruption   political organizations   political participation   political parties   poverty   poverty programs   presidents   public confidence   public opinion   public schools   quality of life   sanitation   schools   social attitudes   social services   standard of living   taxes   trust in government   violence   womens rights

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

District

Distributor(s)

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

2012-11-26 -- 2012-12-29

Date of Collection

2012-11-26 -- 2012-12-29

Data Collection Notes

  1. Version 2 provides an update to the XML file to ensure that precision after decimal places within the weight variable is preserved.

  2. The collection dates in the data file (DATEINTR) are not consistent with the "Original P.I. Documentation" section of the ICPSR codebook. The data file includes interview dates ranging from 26 November to 29 December 2012. Therefore, the Study Time Period and Collection Date sections of ICPSR's study description reflect these dates.

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

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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.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Citizens of Lesotho aged 18 years or older.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

According to the Afrobarometer Web site, the 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

87.0 percent

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Original Release Date

2015-01-19

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:
  • Makhetha, Lipholo, Mamochaki Shale, E. Gyimah-Boadi, Michael Bratton, Robert Mattes, and Carolyn Logan. Afrobarometer Round 5: The Quality of Democracy and Governance in Lesotho, 2012. ICPSR35551-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-02-12. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35551.v2

2015-02-12 Updated the XML file to ensure that precision after decimal places within the weight variable is preserved.

2015-01-19 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:

  • Created variable labels and/or value labels.
  • 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 includes the weight variable WITHINWT that should be used in any analysis. This weight was created to account for individual selection probabilities.

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Notes