Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
A survey sponsored by the Commission on London's Third Airport to ascertain the social, housing and economic background of residents of the four proposed airport sites and their attitudes towards present area and possibility of siting the airport within their area.
Main Topics:
Attitudinal/Behavioural Questions Attitudinal information towards London third airport siting includes: an open ended question - 'How do you feel towards the possibility of having a third London airport here?'. Whether respondent would be in favour or opposed to having airport there and attitudes towards having to move because of airport are assessed on fixed scales. If respondent (or head of household) had the choice of a job in present area and a job outside that area, which he would choose is given as well as whether respondent had considered moving in the year before the airport was suggested, and whether respondent had made specific plans to move. Attitudes towards area: what most liked about living in present parish (10 categories e.g. peaceful/quiet, like the village, near job etc.), also whether anything disliked about parish (open ended). Data include: length of residency in present parish (including whether born there), reason for first moving to present abode (12 categories - e.g. because of job, to be near relatives etc.), place of previous residence (in relation to parish now lived in). Social information: relatives seen most often and frequency of meeting, a record of the number of friends and relatives living within the parish, on the airport site or within a 10 mile radius. Those with children under 16 years are asked to give: age of child, type of school attended (i.e. nursery/play group, primary, secondary or not at school) and where school is situated in relation to parish. Housewives are asked where they do the bulk of their food shopping. All respondents are asked whether they visit public houses and, if so, whether they visit one in particular (name and place is recorded), also noted are the name and place of church or chapel if attended. More specifically, informants are asked whether they went out last Saturday evening, if so where they went. Affiliation behaviour: a list of organisations, bodies etc. is sub-divided under headings: a) youth work, b) public bodies or committees, c) politics, d) education and training, e)church or other religious groups, f) welfare, g) civic or community groups, h) leisure activities, j) any other social club, k) anything not covered by above list, l) connected with proposed third London airport. Respondents are asked to state whether they belong to any of the bodies mentioned (40 in all), if so, where this body meets and carries out its functions, when the last meeting took place and when the respondent last attended a meeting. Background Variables Sex, age cohort, social class, age when finished full-time education, working status (i.e. full-time, part-time etc.), description of occupation (including industry), employment status (7 categories), place of work in relation to own parish and proposed airport site, whether respondent is head of household, if not, occupational details of head of household are given. A record is also made of respondent's net income (9 categories) and whether wage earner or salaried. Type of house tenure is noted (6 categories) together with household composition (i.e. total number in household, number in paid employment, number aged 16 years and over, number under 16 years, number over the age of retirement, number in full-time education and the number who are registered electors).
Proposed households are selected at each site by the use of a random starting point and fixed sampling interval in the electoral lists for the areas concerned. Within each household only one person was selected using a procedure proposed by Kish. The sampling interval in Foulness led to all 92 households being selected. 340 households were selected at each of the other proposed sites
Face-to-face interview