In 2024, the History Trust conducted two public surveys to better understand the diversity of history activities around our state: the South Australian Stories Survey Initiative (SASSi), and Fancy a Bit of History? (FABoH) which revealed more about attitudes to history among people aged 18 to 29 years.
SASSi: South Australian Stories Survey Initiative
The SASSi survey was undertaken in March-April 2024 following preliminary consultation with over 50 individuals and organisations state-wide. SASSi surveyed the diverse forms of research undertaken by both history enthusiasts and experts. An extensive media campaign resulted in 260 responses and revealed more than 400 projects.
The SASSi results suggest that SA’s history community is in need of a sustainable and scalable strategy that can stimulate generational renewal in ways that cultivate meaningful engagement with younger people, as well as sustained collaboration across regions, topics and time periods.
Watch the five-minute video detailing the main results from SASSi here.
For a deeper dive into the results see the 45 minute video, review the PowerPoint presentation and read a publication with the Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, No. 51, 2024.
Fancy a Bit of History? (FABoH)
The ‘Fancy a Bit of History?’ (FABoH) survey was undertaken between Aug-Sept 2024 and designed by the History Advocate and University of Adelaide Masters student, Grace Turpin, as a response to the SASSi findings, to learn more about attitudes to history among South Australians aged 18 to 29 years.
Watch the five-minute video detailing the main results from FABoH. For a deeper dive into the results please see the PowerPoint presentation.
Other Research Activities
Like many History Trust team members, the History Advocate engages in university collaborations which involve researching our state’s past. Kiera is currently a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project – Legacies of Slavery in SA and Victoria.
The Social Sciences have many ways of understanding data acquired sampling public opinion. At the History Trust, we have defined the SASSi and FABoH data sets according to S. K Ahmed’s 2024 definition of ‘Non-Probability’, ‘exploratory’ Research and Memon’s 2022 definition of ‘small’, medium’ and ‘large’ sample sizes as follows. ‘Probability Research’ is completely randomised and involves strict sample sizes. This method prioritises a ‘high degree of accuracy and generalisation of results to whole population’ and as such, aims to be representative and free of selection bias. In contrast, ‘Non-Probability Research’ is not randomised but nonetheless useful for conducting exploratory research. It is generally more qualitative and can include written responses.
Ahmed, SK 2024, ‘How to choose a sampling technique and determine sample size for research: A simplified guide for researchers’, Oral Oncology Reports, vol. 12, pp. 100662.
In 2020, M A Memon defined Social Science sample sizes as follows:
50 to 100 is a small sample size
100 – 200 is medium sample size
200 plus is a large sample size
Memon, M A et al. ‘Sample size for survey research: review and recommendations’, Journal of Applied Structural Equation Modelling, 4:2, i-xx, June 2020.