GSS 27, 2013, Social Identity

Question:
I have a researcher using the GSS 27, Social Identity, that she has some questions about.

• Were respondents contacted, and the survey conducted, on cell phones as well as landlines?
• In the survey questionnaire, there is the following language preference variable: LP_Q01:  Would you prefer that I speak in English or in French? This variable is not included in the PUMF. Would it be available in the Master file through the RDC? I would like to know how many respondents who identified as visible minorities selected ‘Other’.
• LP_N02 INTERVIEWER: Select respondent's preferred non-official language. If necessary, ask: (What language would you prefer?) – would this variable be in the Master file also? If a respondent selected one of the unofficial languages, are they allowed to conduct the survey in that unofficial language? For example, if a respondent selected “Urdu”, would the survey be conducted in “Urdu”?
• If respondent selected “Other”, but is not allowed to conduct survey in an unofficial language, are they then dropped from the survey?
• From pg 160-166 of the 2013 questionnaire (attached for reference), there is a series of questions on respondent’s language background. These are also not in the PUMF. Would they be available in the Master file through the RDC?
• LNR_Q025: Of English or French, which language(s) do you speak well enough to conduct a conversation? Is it...? English, French, both, neither.
• LNR_Q114: Do you still understand Chinese?
• LNR_Q120 Do you still understand Vietnamese?
• LNR_Q100: What language did you first speak in childhood? and LNR_Q155 What language do you speak most often at home? are in the PUMF as grouped variables (LANCH and LANHSDC). Would the other languages grouped ‘other languages’ in the PUMF be included in the Master file?

See tabulation below for the following question:

• I am confused as to why more visible minorities report “yes” to voting in the last federal election than those who report “yes” to being eligible to vote. In other words, 1065 visible minorities are eligible to vote, but 2671 claim they voted-- but how can so many people vote when they are not even eligible? This is quite a large discrepancy. Even if there’s some over-reporting of voting behavior, I feel survey administrators would have caught on to it.
• This discrepancy between reported “yes” to voting and eligibility carries through in the provincial and municipal elections.
• There is quite a large proportion of “valid skip” to these voting questions (I assume coded as “.a” in the .dta file, which corresponds to “6” in the codebook) What constitutes “valid skip”? Respondents below 18 yrs old?

Answer:

Here is the response from subject matter:

1. Survey respondents in 2013 were contacted both on landlines and cell phones. For the first time for a social survey at STC, respondents were also offered an Internet option.
2. Language of interview (English or French) is available on the Masterfile as is Knowledge of official languages (‘Of English or French, which language do you speak well enough to conduct a conversation?’). The number of those respondents who answered that they can conduct conversations in neither English nor French is very small. Crossed by visible minority status it may be unreleasable. 
3. Statistics Canada’s official policy is to conduct interviews in English and French only. In some cases, exemptions are granted to carry out an interview in a third language. Regional offices keep a list of interviewers and their language profiles in the ad hoc case where the respondent request another language beside English and French.  This is a best practice rather than a policy, and it depends on the language requested and if an interviewer is available with this profile.  When there are no interviewers able to conduct an interview in the respondent’s preferred language, the case becomes “out-of-scope” as a result of language barrier.
4. LNR_Q025, LNR_Q114, LNR_Q120 and LNR_Q100 are available on the Masterfile.
5. The reason for the discrepancy between number of respondents who voted and the number of respondents who were eligible for voting is that only respondents who reported not having voted were asked if they were eligible to vote. The valid skip category therefore includes all those who answered “yes” to having voted (since this clearly implies that they were eligible) as well as those who were under 18 years old.