An Overview of 2012 SPPA Components and Weights
Respondents to the 2012 SPPA were randomly assigned to one of two core sets of questions: Core 1, which contains questions found in the core components of previous SPPAs; and Core 2, which contains a new, experimental set of questions.
SPPA respondents were also randomly assigned to questions in two of five SPPA modules: Module A, other arts participation questions (e.g., attend a live book-reading event or go to the movies) and music preferences; Module B, accessing art through media; Module C, creating art through media; Module D, personally creating or performing art or engaging in other leisure activities (e.g., hunting or fishing); and Module E, arts learning.
The modular design to the SPPA necessarily results in multiple weights. The following guide, excerpted from 2012 SPPA Public-Use Data File User's Guide, provides a quick key to SPPA data users:
| 2012 SPPA cores and modules | Correct weight |
| Core A | PWOWGT |
| Core B | PWTWGT |
| Module A | PWSWGT |
| Module B | PWNWGT |
| Module C | PWNWGT |
| Module D | PWSWGT |
| Module E | PWNWGT |
The 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts dataset (and accompanying technical documentation) is available on the NEA's website.