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Methodology: How we did it

ITWeb`s annual IT Salary Survey, now in its fourth year, is unique in that it polls individuals - South African IT professionals - rather than employers or recruitment specialists.
Ranka Jovanovic
By Ranka Jovanovic, Editorial Director
Johannesburg, 19 Mar 2002

The survey is conducted exclusively online among ITWeb`s readers, which means that the survey sample is not controlled. However, the survey is primarily targeted at a defined audience of 27 000 subscribers to ITWeb`s daily technology newsletter.

The 2002 salary survey ran between 7 November 2001 and 21 January 2002 on ITWeb and its online IT recruitment and career service, CareerWeb. Participants submitted data via a Web-based questionnaire, jointly compiled by ITWeb and specialist remunerations consultancy 21st Century Pay Solutions Group.

The database front- and back-end were developed by ITWeb`s development team, led by technology director Sinisa Jovanovic, who conducted the preliminary data cleaning and analysis.

The data was then submitted to 21st Century Pay Solutions Group, which further cleaned the sample, particularly with regard to the remuneration data submitted, and conducted final analysis of the survey data.

Who responded

The traditionally strong interest in ITWeb`s annual Salary Survey, reflected in a high respondent rate, was borne out this year by nearly 3 800 readers completing the questionnaire - 14% of our daily subscribers.

However, when it comes to detailed remuneration data, 21st Century applied rigorous filtering in order to eliminate all inconsistent entries and ended up with a total of 2 897 valid responses.

Research parameters

21st Century says its research was based on the following parameters:

The benchmarking has been conducted on the basis of job title. In other words, there was no job matching beyond the job titles, and no grading to verify the job match.

The data in this report gives an indication of the range of salaries paid per position, and gives an indication of what is being paid per title.

It is critical to understand that the data reported gives an indication of reported salaries of the sample, rather than reported salaries of the IT industry.

Salary terminology defined

The remuneration levels in the tables and graphs in this survey are shown in percentiles and are defined as follows:

Minimum: The minimum reported salary per position of the sample.

Lower quartile: 75% of the sample earns more and 25% earns less than this salary level.

Median: 50% of the sample earns more and 50% earns less than this salary level.

Upper quartile: 25% of the sample earns more and 75% earns less than this salary level.

Maximum: The maximum reported salary per position of the sample.

Mean: The average/mean salary per position of the sample.

The percentiles guide a remuneration decision based on level of responsibility, scarcity of skills, complexity of the business and performance of an individual, as examples. Thus, the company could choose to pay at a higher percentile for an individual who exceeds expectations in terms of the above.

In this report we have used the following terms to describe pay levels as defined below:

Basic salary: The fixed guaranteed cash payment made to an employee, typically monthly. This does not include any bonus or other fringe benefits irrespective of whether these are paid in cash or company-funded.

Total guaranteed package: The total annual guaranteed cost to a company of employing an IT worker. The cost includes the total annual salary, plus non-cash fringe benefits. Typically these include company car; company pension or provident fund and medical aid contributions; group life and accident insurance; company assistance or subsidies; low interest loans and any other recreational or other benefits. This figure excludes any incentives paid to the employee. (21st Century Pay Solutions Group)

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