D0570: Australian election study, 1990

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(s)
McAllister, Ian, University of New South
Wales.

Jones, Roger G., Papadakis, Elim, Australian National University.
Gow, David, University of Queensland.

ABSTRACT
The Australian Election Study is the second in the series
initiated in 1987, and builds on the data collected earlier in the
1967 and 1979 Australian Political Attitudes Surveys. The series
provides a long-term perspective on stability and change in the
political attitudes and behaviour of the Australian electorate, and
investigates the changing social bases of Australian politics as the
economy and society modernise and change character. In addition to
these long-term perspectives it examines the political issues
prevalent in the election and assesses their importance for the
election result.

Two major themes are covered in the survey, the economy and the
environment. Questions on the economy include retrospective and
prospective evaluations of the country's economy and the individual's
own personal household situation; wages and price controls; attitudes
to particular economic issues; and the position of the major parties
and party leaders on the main economic issues. Questions on the
environment include attitudes to the protection the environment and to
environmental issues in general; the role of industry and the
government in ensuring environmental protection; rankings of the most
urgent environmental issues and the respondent's assessment of their
likely future importance; and attitudes toward environmental pressure
and interest groups, including current or likely membership.

As in the 1987 AES, a range of questions are included in the survey
which cover election issues and the respondent's assessment of the
most effective party to handle them, as well as questions on specific
political issues such as government spending and the pilots' dispute.
A section on social policy includes questions on around 30
contemporary social and moral issues, including abortion, Aboriginal
rights, pornography, health care and many others. A section on
industrial policy focuses on attitudes towards the control of the
economy, attitudes to trade unions and big business, and to industrial
conflict in general.

In addition to the standard questions on vote in the current election,
recalled vote in the 1987 federal election, and party identification,
the survey contains an extensive section dealing with attitudes to the
major parties and to the party leaders. Finally, a range of
demographic data are collected for each respondent and their spouse or
partner, if applicable.

SUBJECT TERMS
Economic policy; Elections; Environment; Industrial
Relations; Political parties; Politicians; Politics; Social classes;
Social policy; Social problems

UNIVERSE SAMPLED
persons on the Australian electoral role 26 February,
1990

SAMPLING PROCEDURE
systematic random sample
The Australian Electoral Office provided a systematic random sample
from its computerised electoral role. The sample of 3277 electors was
made by selecting 1 in 2989 from the roll, distributed proportionately
across States and Territories and Electoral Divisions, excluding South
Australia. A supplementary sample of 330 cases was selected manually
from the alphabetical microfiche list of electors in South Australia,
again using the sample fraction of 1 in 2989 persons.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
self-completion (mail out, mail back)

DIMENSIONS OF DATA SET
number of cases: 2037
number of variables per case: 239
number of cards per case: 4

ACCESSIBILITY
A copy of the User Undertaking Form must be signed
before data may be accessed.

PUBLICATIONS
Bean, Clive et al. ed. The Greening of Australian
Politics: the 1990 Federal Election. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire,
1990.

START YEAR: 1990
END YEAR: 1990

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: Australia