Scottish household survey: data access

All successful applications to access Scottish Household Survey data are summarised on this page.

This document is part of a collection


Further Information

Follow-up Surveys

A follow-up survey provides opportunities for researchers to use the SHS to identify a sample for follow-up research. This may allow more detailed probing of certain sub-groups or variables of interest, and to examine under-lying issues within the data.

  • View supporting information about Follow-up Surveys


Special Datasets

A request to be provided with a special dataset can be submitted where the standard anonymised datasets does not contain all the information you require. This should allow users to undertake more detailed analyses for a specific project. Response times for special dataset requests vary depending on the complexity of the request and the resources available to complete it; where data is considered low risk in terms of sensitivity and confidentiality we'd typically look to respond within twenty working days, otherwise a longer wait time for data delivery is likely.

  • View supporting information about Special Datasets
Please note that access to such sensitive and confidential data (through follow-up surveys and special datasets) are safeguarded by regulating access for non-commercial purposes only, and can only be used by the Scottish Government or other research agencies acting on behalf of, or in collaboration with, the Scottish Government or associated bodies.


Ad-hoc Requests

The SHS Project Team attempts to proactively publish a large amount of analysis through resources such as our annual report available in the collection and through providing access to microdata through the UK Data Archive and other datasets such as those listed above.

Unfortunately it is not possible to proactively produce every possible type of analyses users would look for, or to expect users to be skilled in analysing complex datasets. As such, we offer an ad-hoc request service where the SHS Project Team will produce bespoke analysis to meet individual user needs. If you wish to submit an ad-hoc request then please contact us.

Response times for ad-hocs do vary depending on the complexity of the request and the resources available to complete, though typically we'd look to respond within twenty working days.

  • Please see our Ad-hoc Analyses page for summary information on the range of requests received previously.

Supporting Information

Please also refer to our How to Access Data page for information on accessing SHS data through resources such as the UK Data Archive.

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