1996 GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY Cycle 11 Questionnaire Package This package describes the content, methodology, data collection and sample of the eleventh cycle of the General Social Survey (GSS). Copies of the questionnaires used in Cycle 11 are attached as appendices: the GSS 11-1 control form as Appendix A and the GSS 11-2 main questionnaire on social and community support as Appendix B. Since Cycle 11 used a computer assisted telephone interviewing system (CATI), Appendices A and B are presented as reference tools. Appendix C describes the flow patterns for the screening sections, section B, section C and section E. Appendix D contains a road map to Cycle 11. The Screening Sections and Sections B, C and E of the questionnaire consist of blocks of questions repeated for each activity, the road map is a summary of each set of questions. Content and Methodology The 1996 GSS (Cycle 11) is the first GSS with social support as the core content. Health, the core subject matter in Cycles 1 and 6 was due for repetition in Cycle 11. Social support replaced it, however, as the introduction of the National Population Health Survey in 1994 eliminated the need to collect health data. Social support is not a new topic for the GSS as it received coverage in the first (core=health) and fifth (core=family) cycles. The focus content of Cycle 11 collected information on tobacco use and was sponsored by Health Canada. The objectives and scope of Cycle 11 were: to determine the nature of the help received and provided; to understand the dynamic between an individual's social network and help received and provided; and to identify unmet needs and the reasons for the needs. The 1996 GSS focused on help given or received during temporary difficult times or out of necessity due to long-term health or physical limitations in daily activities either inside or outside the household. A GSS 11-1 control form was completed for each telephone number generated in the sample. When a private household was contacted, all household members were enumerated and basic demographic information (e.g., age and sex) was collected for everyone. A computer algorithm randomly selected a household member, 15 years of age or older, to answer the questionnaire. If the person selected could not be interviewed due to health reasons, a proxy could be interviewed. The GSS 11-2 main questionnaire has the following sections: Screening Help received by respondent Screening Help given by respondent Section A Demographic information on non-household roster members - help received by respondent Section B Help received by respondent - day to day help Section C Help received by respondent - unmet needs Section D Demographic information on non-household roster members - help given by respondent Section E Help given by respondent - day to day help Section F Help given by respondent - impact Section G Family and closest friend contact Section H Paid and unpaid work Section I Health indicators and tobacco use Section J Other classification Section K Contacts for follow-up The help received screening questions collected information on the respondent's temporary difficult times and developed a roster of persons and/or organizations who assisted the respondent in his/her everyday activities due to the respondent's long-term health or physical limitations. Four major groups of instrumental activities of daily living were asked about to establish the help roster. They were: 1) child-care; 2) meal preparation and clean-up; house cleaning; laundry and sewing; house maintenance and outside work; 3) shopping for groceries or other necessities; transportation; banking and bill paying; and 4) personal care. Also, persons/organizations giving care such as checking up or providing emotional support were added to the roster, however, there was no detailed follow-up. In an analogous fashion to the help received screening questions, the help given screening questions collected information on the temporary difficult times of the people the respondent helped and developed or added to the roster, persons and/or organizations whom the respondent assisted due to the receiver's long-term health or physical limitations. Information was collected for the four major groups of instrumental activities of daily living, as well as checking up and emotional support. Section A collected demographic information for persons who did not live in the household but who assisted the respondent due to the respondent's long term health or physical limitations. Section B collected information on persons/organizations who assisted the respondent due to the respondent's long-term health or physical limitations. Data was gathered on each of the eight instrumental activities of daily living. Information was collected, for persons and/or organizations on the roster, on the amount of time spent providing assistance, their relationship to the respondent, any other activities with which they may have assisted, who was the primary care giver, and if the primary care giver received help in order to assist the respondent. Section C covered the eight instrumental activities of daily living to determine if the assistance received by the respondent met the respondent's needs. Section D asked for demographic information on non-household members/organizations listed on the roster whom the respondent assisted due to the receiver's long-term health or physical limitations. Section E collected information on persons/organizations whom the respondent assisted due to the receiver's long-term health or physical limitations. Data was gathered on each of the eight instrumental activities of daily living. Information was collected, for persons and/or organizations on the roster, on the amount of time spent providing assistance, the relationship to the respondent of the person who arranged for assistance, any other activities with which the respondent may have assisted, if respondent was primary caregiver, and if the respondent, as primary care giver, received help in order to assist. Section F asked the respondent how assisting others impacted on his/her everyday life. Section G was designed to gather information on the respondent's social network - family and all other persons the respondent felt close to emotionally. Section H focused on the respondent's participation in paid and unpaid work, as well as his/her level of education. Section I pertained to the respondent's day-to-day health and use of tobacco. Section J covered the respondent's sociodemographic characteristics such as language, religion, state of health and income, as well as information on the respondent's spouse/partner's activity, where applicable. Section K asked for information that would permit a longitudinal follow-up of the respondent. Data Collection Data were collected by means of computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) using Computer-Assisted Survey Execution System software (CASES). In CATI, the interviewer asks the respondent the survey questions as they appear on the screen and uses the keyboard to enter the responses into the computer system as the interview progresses. Built-in edits and fewer processing steps result in improved data quality and reduced processing time. Although shown in the attached questionnaire, skips are built into CATI and do not appear on the screen. The data for this cycle were collected monthly from February 1996 to December 1996 inclusive. Collection took place in four regional offices (Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver). Sample The target population for Cycle 11 was all persons aged 15 and over in private households in the ten provinces. The sample population was selected using random digit dialing techniques (RDD). Statistics Canada's head office selected the telephone numbers, which were then sent to the regional offices. Responses were obtained from 12,756 respondents. This included a national over-sample of approximately 1,250 seniors aged 65 and over (sponsored by the Senior's Directorate of Health Canada) and 700 seniors over-sampled from the province of Quebec (sponsored by the Quebec Bureau of Statistics). These supplemental interviews were drawn from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) rotate-outs. In addition, approximately 25% of the regular sample was drawn from the LFS rotate-outs and was restricted to seniors aged 65 and over, thereby obtaining more reliable estimates from this group. The response rate for Cycle 11 was 85.3%