University of Tokyo

Abstract
Survey Number 0744
Survey Title Okinawa General Social Survey, 2006
Depositor Committee for General Social Research of Okinawa 2006
Restriction of Use For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' at SSJDA website.

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Educational Purpose Available for both research and instructional purposes.
Period of Data Use Permission One year
Access to Datasets Download
Nesstar Not available
Summary This survey has two broad purposes: one is to reveal Okinawa’s social structure through a statistical survey of people living in Okinawa (residents) 60 years after the end of World War II and over 30 years after Okinawa’s reversion to Japan. The other is to construct a public individual data set about Okinawa that permits secondary use. In addition, constructing an Okinawan version of the General Social Surveys, beginning with this research, has been set as a target for the future.

Due to its social structure and historical/cultural background that differ from the rest of Japan, Okinawa has served as a field for research often treated as a total society (the survey population) since the start of the 1960s. There is a demonstrated need for up-to-date data to connect these numerous survey results longitudinally for trend analysis and verify changes in Okinawa’s social structure.

Moreover, despite these statistical social surveys probably numbering in the hundreds, no individual data from surveys have been released for research into Okinawan society, and it must be said that the development of publicly available data for secondary use has fallen behind. In particular, there was a deepening awareness of the need for fundamental data collection that are reliable and available for use by researchers/businesspeople/graduate students for research on Okinawa’s social structure and changes in it.

To break through this situation, the “Okinawa General Social Survey 2006” project, which organized an interdisciplinary research team covering the fields of sociology, social welfare studies, mass communication studies, and so on, and included within its purposes constructing Okinawa’s first public data set, was planned and this survey was conducted.

It should be noted that the report published in March 2008 merely presented basic collated results, and thus data analysis results by the members in charge of preparing the question items were prepared in March 2009 as a secondary report.
Data Type quantitative research
quantitative research: micro data
Universe Men and women living in 17 municipalities in central and southern areas of Okinawa Island in Okinawa prefecture (aged 20 to 64 years)
Unit of Observation Individual
Sample Size Ascertained sample size: 1,739 people
Valid Responses: 885 people
Date of Collection 2006-11-23 ~ 2007-02-20
2006/11/23 – 2007/02/20
Time Period 2006 ~ 2007
Spatial Unit okinawa
17 municipalities in central and southern areas of Okinawa Island, Okinawa prefecture
Sampling Procedure Probability: Stratified
Probability: Multistage
Two-stage stratified random sampling from voter registration lists
Mode of Data Collection Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
Self-administered survey (placement method)
Investigator Survey carried out by Okinawa Raifu Puran Sogo Kenkyujo, Ltd. (“Okinawa Life Plan General Research Institute,” Ltd.)
DOI 10.34500/SSJDA.0744
Sponsors (Funds) Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Related Publications (by the Investigator) Please refer to the abstract in Japanese.
Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis)
Documentation [Questionnaire]
Major Survey Items (1) Basic attributes
- Gender
- Year of birth
- Birthplace/experience living outside Okinawa, total number of years of residence (for people born outside Okinawa)
- Whether employed or not/employment position, occupation type, size of workplace
- Highest level of educational attainment, stratum consciousness
- Type of residence, area of residence
- Annual household income
- Marital status, size of household, types of co-residents
- Spouse’s occupation/employment position, occupation type, size of workplace

(2) Family
- Housework activities (respondent, spouse)
- Number of children, ideal number of children, desired gender of children
- Family consciousness

(3) Community life
- Frequency of participation in events
- Frequency of participation in festivals
- Intention to continue residence
- Groups respondent belongs to

(4) Social contribution and welfare
- Intention to contribute to society
- Experience of social activities/intention to participate in social activities
- Child welfare/level of enrichment of childrearing environment, childrearing and local community, intention to contribute to childrearing, whether respondent agrees or disagrees with enrichment of the foster parent system, whether respondent wishes to become a foster household
- Social welfare/bearer of responsibility, government expenditure
- Welfare for people with mental disabilities/contact with people with mental disabilities, image of people with mental disabilities, resistance to people with mental disabilities, level of awareness of mental illness

(5) Transportation issues and welfare for people with physical disabilities
- Transportation-related issues (cars, public transportation systems, barrier-free design, accidents)
- Solutions to transportation and travel issues (parking, car entry restrictions, public transportation systems, streetcars, incorporation of barrier-free design, development of sidewalks)
- Whether respondent drives a car
- Frequency of use of route buses

(6) Shopping malls
- Frequency of use of shopping malls
- Purpose of use of shopping malls
- Attitudes to shopping malls

(7) Okinawa and the development/growth of Okinawa
- Image of Okinawa (characteristics of people living in the prefecture, nature/culture)
- Whether development has improved Okinawa
- How development should preferably be
- Opinion on the environment and development
- Thoughts about when to replace electrical appliances
- Changes in living circumstances in the past 5 years
- Future lifestyle
- Image of Okinawa’s future

(8) Residents who are foreign nationals/Nikkei-jin (Japanese descent)/Amerasian or born outside Okinawa
- Whether respondent has contact with foreigners/races, setting
- Resistance to foreigners and people born outside Okinawa, etc.
- Relationship between foreigners and the host society
- Human rights for foreigners

(9) Contact with mass media
- Newspapers/time spent reading, pages read
- Television/time spent watching, genres of programs watched
- Frequency of use of the Internet

(10) Attitudes to politics/society
- Amendment to Article 9 of the Constitution
- Okinawa US military base
- Japan Self-Defense Forces
- US–Japan Security Treaty
- Relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
- Political party supported

(11) Identity as an Uchinanchu (Okinawan)
- Requirements to be an “Uchinanchu” (Okinawan)
- Whether respondent is an Uchinanchu (Okinawan)/pride in being an Uchinanchu (Okinawan)
Date of Release 2011/10/19
Topics in CESSDA Click here for details

Political behaviour and attitudes
Specific social services: use and availability
Community, urban and rural life
Topics in SSJDA Society/Culture
Version 1 : 2011-10-19
Notes for Users Variable and value labels are written in Japanese.