A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
WARTIME SOCIAL SURVEY
New series 8.
Queues, Oranges and Points Rationing
1. Did you have to stand in a queue at all when you were shopping last week?
Yes 1.
No 2
IF YES
What did you have to queue for? How many times last week?
Which of these did you queue longest for? (name one only)
About how long did you have to wait? mins
ORANGES
2. Do you approve or disapprove of the scheme for selling oranges first to people with children under 6?
Approve 3
Disapprove 4
Don’t know and indifferent 5
3. I APPROVE: Why do you approve?
4. IF DISAPPROVE: Why did you disapprove
5. Have you decided what to do with your fortnight’s points?
Yes 6
No 7
6. IF YES: to Question 5: What will you spend them on?
IF NO: to Question 5: Which of these commodities would you spend them on?
If contact is unable to or will not give indications of what she will buy please mark here:
7. If the Ministry of Food wants to give you any information or tell you about any of its scheme what way would suit you best?
Read out this list:
Advertisements in papers or magazines 8
Wireless 9
Posters 10
Others
Why does this suit you best?
8. Have you been to any Wartime Food Demonstrations?
Yes 11
No 12
Don’t know about them 13
9. Have you seen any of the Food Facts notices about food matters in the papers or magazines?
Yes 14
No 15
Don’t know 16.
10. Have you ever seen Ministry of Food slides in cinemas?
Yes 17
No 18
Don’t know 19
| Class A | 1 | Age under 35 | 5 | No. of mouths | |
| B | 2 | 35-50 | 6 | Children under 6 | |
| C | 3 | Over 50 | 7 | Over 6 under 18 | |
| D | 4 | 18 and over |
Occupation of Head of House
Area
Urban 8
Rural 9
Interviewer
3. Have you seen any of the Food Facts notices about Food matters in the Papers or Magazines.
| Sample 1 | Total | Sample 2 | |
| 75.0 | Yes | 74.3 | 73.4 |
| 21.5 | No | 23.0 | 24.7 |
| 3.5 | Don’t know | 2.7 | 1.9 |
| 2970 | Sample | 5739 | 2769 |
4. Have you ever seen Ministry of Food Slides in Cinemas.
Social Groups
The four social groups A, B, C and D, by which the material has been analysed, are based upon a series of factors - Income, Housing and Occupation of the head of the household.
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A. Over £500 per annum at pre-war standards.
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B. Approximately £250-500(pre-war standards.)
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C. Approximately £125-250(pre-war standards.)
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D. Lower than £125 per annum. (war standards.)I
It is not felt that this type of classification is fully satisfactory, and research is proceeding with the object of modernising and improving the social classification.