Call for proposals to analyse & write two municipal reports based on the 7th Quality of Life Survey (2023/24) Data

The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) periodically conducts the Quality of Life (QoL) Survey, which includes more than 200 questions on development indicators and respondent attitudes. The dataset contains more than 13 500 rigorously sampled respondents over the age of 18 across Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province. The GCRO is inviting proposals from suitably experienced researchers to analyse and write two reports based on the Quality of Life survey 7 (2023/24) data. While fieldwork for the 7th Quality of Life survey was completed in April 2024, the dataset will be made available to successful candidates in June 2024. The first full draft will be expected on 31 October 2024 and final draft on 6 December 2024. The specified budget ceiling for this work is determined as no more than R 200 000 over the contract period.

The GCRO’s QoL survey, first conducted in 2009, has been the basis for measuring and tracking the quality of life and wellbeing, broadly defined, of Gauteng residents. In a face-to-face interview, randomly selected respondents are asked questions about their living and socio-economic circumstances, their perceptions about service delivery and government, and their experiences and opinions on a broad range of personal, social, and political issues (download the instrument here). The overall methodology and a large proportion of questions have remained constant across seven survey iterations starting in 2009, ensuring that results can be compared over time. The QoL surveys provide a tracking and diagnostic tool, affording a rich information resource for policymakers, researchers, and the public (see de Kadt et al 2021 for a descriptive report of many of the variables in the 6th survey, conducted in 2020-21). The survey data from the first six surveys are freely available for download through the DataFirst  service. As part of the dissemination of the QoL 6 survey, the GCRO commissioned a service provider to compose data-driven municipal reports for the three metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng, see example here.

Call for Proposals

The GCRO wishes to contract a researcher with experience conducting social science data analysis in SPSS, Stata or R, and preparing reports based on this analysis. The researcher will plan, conduct analysis, and draft two reports based on the Quality of Life survey 7 (2023/24) data. The first will be a benchmarking report analysing and comparing all
municipalities including the three metropolitan municipalities (City of Ekurhuleni, City of Johannesburg and City of Tshwane), the two districts (Sedibeng and West Rand) and six local municipalities (Emfuleni, Lesedi, Midvaal, Merafong City, Mogale City and Rand West City) and the province (see example here). The second municipal report will be tailored specifically to the City of Johannesburg (see example here). The researcher will be expected to consider the following:

a) Each report will contain an introductory section, a second section providing insight into the particular strengths and challenges of the municipality/district in question, and a third section, presenting municipal results for a range of key variables.

b) The reports should focus on issues of particular importance to the municipalities. The contracted researcher will need to develop content and thematic focus for the reports in close consultation with the GCRO.

c) The contracted researcher is expected to re-run all calculations in order to double-check the results. The final reports must be formatted using the template provided by the GCRO, accompanied by all syntax files, and all graphs should include embedded data.

d) The contracted researcher must allocate sufficient time to respond to queries from GCRO copy-editors.

Proposal Requirements

Applicants are required to submit the following:

a) A maximum two-page proposal responding to the call. 

b) Name/s of the lead applicant/s.

c) CVs of the applicant/s clearly demonstrating their ability to carry out the

tasks. 

d) Other supporting documents such as experience and relevant previous work

Proposals are to be submitted to the GCRO on info@gcro.ac.za with the email subject line “QoL 7 survey: Municipal reports proposal”. Submissions made after the due date (17 May 2024) will not be considered.

Note that contracting of successful applicants will occur in terms of the requirements of Wits University. Grantees contracted as single researchers will be required to provide a confirmation of bank account, ID, Wits payroll information forms. Payroll-based payments will be taxed in line with SARS rules. Alternatively, contracting of researchers through organisations is possible.