Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has called for residents of the country to participate in a web survey centred around the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the mandatory lockdown which has been in effect.
The survey is simply titled “Statistics South Africa COVID-19 Impact Survey – Wave 1” and you can complete it yourself by following this link.
Aside from the data to access the webpage, you may also provide an email address so that you can continue the survey at a later stage should you not be able to do so in one session.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that has been in force since Friday, 27 March has not only deprived South Africans of their freedom of movement, it has fundamentally altered the way people interact with each other, and the way society functions. Many South Africans, naturally, feel anxious and unsure about the future. This questionnaire aims to collect information that will assist the country to understand what South Africans know, and how they feel about the pandemic. This information will be used by government to understand the impact of the pandemic better and to devise interventions to assist the population,” an introduction to the survey reads.
This form is said to take between 10 and 12 minutes to complete, but we were able to get through it much sooner than that.
There are four sections available which all deal with different subjects: personal and geographical information, health information and risk behaviour, knowledge and perception and finally health.
It’s worth noting that, at no point while filling the form out, does Stats SA ask you to provide any identifying information such as your name or ID number. Responses are anonymous and because of this we encourage everyone to complete it as honestly as possible, even when difficult questions are asked.
We’re quite impressed with the thoroughness as well as thoughtfulness of the questions. On top of asking South Africans how they have dealt with the pandemic and the lockdown, it also tests how much general knowledge respondents have about COVID-19, especially around its transmission. Hopefully gaps in public knowledge will help direct the government in their official communications.
The survey, which we will again link to here, ends rather soon on 26th April. Please consider taking some time out of your day to participate and help the country.
As a final note, we’d like to add that the survey is best filled out on a PC or notebook, with the mobile version not being particularly friendly in our experience.
[Image – Stats SA]
