A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
The samples were designed to represent the adult civilian population of Great Britain, which was defined as all civilians aged fourteen or over with the exception of those still at school.
Representative quotas of men and women in different broad occupation groups were set for each of the twelve Civil Defence regions, the number interviewed in each region being proportionate to its population. Within each of these regions appropriate numbers of persons living in large and small towns and in rural areas were included.
In selecting housewives, who were interviewed at their homes, interviewers were told how many should be included in different economic groups and age groups. The economic group was classified according to the basic wage-rate or salary of the chief earner in the family.
Workers were interviewed at their place of work, not more than six being selected from any one work place.
In selecting both housewives and workers, interviewers were told to adopt some random principle, such as taking every nth house in a street or selecting workers at regular intervals from a list. If the person first chosen for interview was not available another person was selected in the same way to be interviewed instead.
July 1945 | Jan. 1946 | March 1946 | May 1946 | |||||
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
Scotland (11) * | 217 | 11 | 227 | 11 | 225 | 11 | 221 | 11 |
North (North (1) N.E. (2) | 287 | 15 | 297 | 15 | 284 | 14 | 289 | 15 |
(N.W. (10) | 268 | 14 | 267 | 13 | 282 | 14 | 282 | 14 |
Middle (N. Mid. (3) east (4) | 253 | 13 | 268 | 14 | 268 | 13 | 264 | 13 |
(Mid. (9) Wales (8) | 299 | 16 | 301 | 15 | 302 | 15 | 300 | 15 |
South (South (6) S.W. (7) S.E. (8) | 327 | 17 | 330 | 17 | 340 | 17 | 324 | 16 |
(London (5) | 251 | 13 | 307 | 15 | 313 | 16 | 298 | 15 |
Total | 1902 | 100 | 1997 | 100 | 2014 | 100 | 1978 | 100 |
July 1945 | Jan 1946 | March 1946 | May 1946 | |||||
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
Housewives | 570 | 30 | 593 | 30 | 595 | 30 | 594 | 30 |
Factory workers | 501 | 26 | 516 | 26 | 509 | 25 | 509 | 26 |
Clerical & distributive workers | 317 | 17 | 321 | 16 | 330 | 16 | 320 | 16 |
Professional & Managerial workers | 101 | 5 | 126 | 6 | 119 | 6 | 109 | 6 |
Other workers * | 313 | 16 | 332 | 17 | 337 | 17 | 324 | 16 |
Retired & Unoccupied | 100 | 5 | 109 | 5 | 124 | 6 | 122 | 6 |
Total | 1902 | 1997 | 2019 | 1978 |
The population sampled is the adult civilian population of Great Britain, an “adult” being a person who has left school.
On your quota sheet you are told how many men and women you should interview in different occupation groups, and how many people you should interview in different towns or areas. It is left to you to distribute interviews with people in different occupation group between the towns or areas given as is most suitable.
Age quotas are not set, except for housewives. Bearing in mind that anybody who has left school may be interviewed, try and get a good representation of different age groups. About half should be under and about half over 45. About 8% should be under 20 and about 16% over 65.
The choice of rural areas is left to you. Any area around a town in which you are working may be chosen. Only interviews made in villages, or right out in the country, should be classified as rural. Interviews made on the outskirts of towns should count as urban and belonging to that town.
Workers should be interviewed at their place of work. Do not interview more than six workers from any one work-place. When you have obtained the co-operation of the management of a work-place select the workers on a random principle. If a list of workers can be obtained pick out one in every so many. If there is no list and you have to select workers on the spot, guard against any bias entering into your choice. On no account allow the manager or foreman to choose workers for you.
On your quota shoot you are told how many housewives to interview in three economic groups. Choose suitable streets and as usual ascertain the wage-rate the chief wage earner in the family before classifying the economic group. Do interview more than five housewives in the same street.
The age groups are meant as a guide and need not be kept to strictly.
It is important that the correct number of retired and unoccupied people should be included, so please make sure that you get the full number set. You will have to use ingenuity in finding these. They may be interviewed in the homes of housewives you visit in getting your housewife quota or elsewhere.