While a collection of KAPS surveys have long been available through the Roper Center, additional study records have recently been added to iPoll, expanding the collection to include surveys from the 1960s in Martinique, Tunisia, Thailand, and Bangladesh, among other countries, as well as a 1956 survey in Jamaica.
Attitudinal Questions
What is the ideal family size? What is the impact of the population growth rate, will it cause societal problems? Is it acceptable to use birth control at all? What are the reasons people have children? Personal questions about fertility, conception, sterility, abortion, and unwanted pregnancies are also addressed.
The KAPS studies also feature gender and societal topics. What kind of education would you want for your daughter? How often does your husband help with housework? Should married women work outside the home? How important is virginity for unmarried women?
Demographic and Other Questions
But the KAPS surveys do not only cover attitudinal measures, they also capture information useful to the demographer. Standard demographic questions include age, education, income, occupation and socio-economic status, but also less common demographics like first language, length of residence, date of marriage, religion, family birth order, number of children, and others. In addition, detailed questions about family composition, history of pregnancy, medical care access and utilization, land ownership, residence and mobility, use of domestic help, ownership of cars and commercial goods, and other areas provide rich resources for demographers, particularly in countries where government data in this period have substantial gaps.
Some surveys also cover topics like traditional religious practices, quantity and use of spare time, exposure to media, belief in superstitions, and other topics.
Formats
While some surveys are available in modern statistical formats, many of these surveys are only in column binary preservation formats. In some cases, the large number of respondents or questions or both results in a large and complex set of files that require significant effort to convert. Subsets of questions of interest can be converted to limit required hours.