The data are the responses in 83-86 to seven items concerning attitude to abortion.  For each item, respondents were asked if the law should allow abortion (1-approve, 0-disapprove).  The items with the instruction are given below:

 

Here are a number of circumstances in which a woman might consider an abortion.  Please say whether or not you think the law should allow an abortion in each case.

Should abortion be allowed by law?

 

  1. The woman decides on her own she does not wish to have a child.
  2. The couple agree they do not wish to have the child.
  3. The woman is not married and does not wish to marry the man.
  4. The couple cannot afford anymore children.
  5. There is a strong change for a defect in the baby.
  6. The woman’s health is seriously endangered by the pregnancy.
  7. The woman became pregnant as a result of rape.

 

Possible issues:

  1. Shifts in attitudes toward abortion over the years.
  2. Associations between attitudes and the demographic questions.
  3. Associations between changes and demographic questions.

 

 

                                        

The data come from British Social Attitudes (BSA) Survey started

in 1983. The eligible persons were all adults aged 18 or over living

in private households in Britain. The sampling was multi-stage. At

the first stage, parliamentary constituencies were sampled with

probability proportionate to electorate size (PPES). At the second

stage, districts were sampled out of the selected constituencies

with PPES again. Thirdly, addresses from each of the selected

districts were sampled. At the fourth stage an individual was randomly

selected at each address. The data refer to surveys carried out in

1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986. There  were  seven

dichotomous items asking  whether the respondent supported or opposed

a woman's right to have an  abortion under different circumstances

each year. Finally there were 410 respondents who responded to all

four years' interviews. The data consist of completed results of 264

respondents out of 410 with 9 variables for each record. There are

1056 records from the joining of four years' data.  The format is

as follows:

 

 

     Column   Description                    Coding

 

     1-2      Districts                              codes 1-54

 

     4-7      Respondent code               39-3388

 

     9        Year                                     1983=1; 1984=2; 1985=3; 1986=4

 

     11       Total answering codes       Yes for one item=1; Yes for two=2;

                                                            for seven items          ......

                                                            Yes for seven=7; No for seven=0

     

    13      Party chosen at any one

              of the stages                         Conservative=1; Labour=2;

                                                            Liberal/SDP/Alliance=3;

                                                            other party=4; none=5

    

     15     Self assessed social    

              class                                      middle=1; upper working=2;

                                                            lower working=3

 

     17       Gender                                male=1; female=2

 

     19-20    Age                                   In years from 18 to 80

 

     22       Religion                              Roman Catholic=1;

                                                            Protestant/Church of England=2;

                                                            other religion=3;

                                                            no religion=4