Passions, People and Appreciation: Making Volunteering Work for Young People 

This study reports answers to questions about participation in community volunteer work by members of the 1995 panel of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) in the years 2000 and 2001. Table 1 shows the structure of the panel.

The panel was first contacted in 1995. Initially a sample of schools was drawn with probability a proportional to the size of the school. That sample was disproportionately stratified by State and Territory and school sector. Within each school, two Year 9 classes were randomly selected (in smaller schools all Year 9 students were selected). The result was a nationally representative sample of young Australians. The different age-enrolment policies of the States and Territories meant the age of the students ranged between 14 and 16 years, with a mode of 15 years. In total, 13 613 students completed multiple-choice literacy and numeracy tests and a questionnaire. A mail questionnaire was sent to the homes of these students in 1996 and from 1997 they were interviewed at home by telephone.

The interviews focus on educational and labour force participation. Table 1 shows that by 2000 58.0% of the original sample remained and 50.5% by 2001. Responses are weighted by State and Territory, school sector and school size to compensate for the original sample design as well as by initial literacy and numeracy levels to compensate for differential sample attrition across categories of family and educational background. Further information on the sample and the weighting procedures is presented in Long (1996) and Marks and Long (2000).