How representative reliable is the China Internet Survey 2018?
To our knowledge, the China Internet Survey (CIS) 2018 is the first nationally representative survey of Chinese citizens focusing on Internet use. We conducted the survey from July to September of 2018 via face-to-face conversations with experienced and trained interviewers affiliated with a research institute in China. The population of interest consisted of Chinese residents from 18 to 65 years of age. We drew a multistage PPS spatial sample of townships as PSUs and square-kilometer tiles drawn from township grids (SSUs). SSUs were randomly selected by PPS based on WorldPop population density estimates at the km2 level for 2010. The township grids were stratified so that one SSU was drawn from the more densely populated “urban” tiles of the grid of the township, while the other was drawn from the low density “rural” tiles. Hectares (TSUs) sampled by SRS within which square-kilometer. We reached households, the survey sampled 4,686 eligible Chinese residents and yielded a final sample size of 3,144. Individual respondents were selected via Kish grid within each household. Administering the survey took 44 minutes, on average.
The China Internet Survey 2018 data set – including codebooks and data – will be made available via ICPSR at University of Michigan in due course. In the meantime, we share data on a case-by-case basis.
Funding statement
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. [338478]. The Hertie School and Leiden University are both beneficiaries of the grant. The funding sources were not involved in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
