Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2023
Information on the composition, characteristics and attitudes of Scottish households and adults across a number of topic areas.
1.1 Source Surveys and Core Questions
Results from the three large-scale Scottish Government population surveys are published separately as Accredited Official Statistics:
- Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS)
- Scottish Health Survey (SHeS)
- Scottish Household Survey (SHS)
Further information on Population Surveys in Scotland can be found on the Scottish Government website.
Since the beginning of 2012, each of the surveys have included a set of around 20 core questions that provide information on the composition, characteristics and attitudes of Scottish households and adults across a number of topic areas including equality characteristics, housing, employment and perceptions of health and crime. Responses to these questions in all three surveys have been pooled to provide the Scottish Surveys Core Questions (SSCQ) dataset with a sample size of around 20,000 responses.
Full details of the harmonised questions are available online and questionnaires are provided on the websites of each of the individual surveys.
Due to the different sampling nature of each survey, which is necessary to meet their primary aims, the number of respondents varies between different SSCQ questions. The questions were hence batched into three groups: household questions, individual questions and crime questions, and three different sets of weights calculated to ensure representative results. Sampling, weighting and pooled sample numbers are described separately for each survey below.
Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) technical notes
Sampling, survey response and weighting are described in full in the SCJS technical report. Briefly, the survey consists of a stratified systematic sample which is designed to achieve a robust sample at national and local authority level. The target sample size at national level is 5,000 interviews per year. One random adult per household is interviewed and asked all SSCQ and SCJS questions.
Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) technical notes
Sampling, survey response and weighting are described in full in the SHeS technical report. Briefly, the survey is a partially clustered stratified multi-stage sample, with local authorities as strata, intermediate geographies as primary sampling units and addresses as secondary sampling unit. All adults and up to two children in each household are eligible for interview. Only one adult in each household is asked the crime and household questions to remain in line with the sampling procedure of the other two surveys. The SHeS sample is boosted for some health boards and to capture more households with children.
Scottish Household Survey (SHS) technical notes
Sampling, survey response and weighting are described in full in the SHS technical report. The SHS consists of a stratified systematic sample with a target minimum effective sample size of 250 per local authority. The SSCQ household questions are answered by the highest income householder or their spouse/partner, and one adult is randomly selected to answer the individual and crime questions, in line with the other two surveys.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the SSCQ
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Scottish Government suspended face-to-face interviewing for the three source surveys in March 2020. This greatly impacted the fieldwork for the source surveys and led to the SCJS not taking place in 2020/2021.
Fieldwork restrictions were lifted for the 2022 fieldwork period, but many surveys still offered remote interviews and adopted a ‘knock-to-nudge’ approach. The 2023 fieldwork approaches are now aligned with pre-COVID methods.
Due to the inconsistencies in data collection methods and the data unavailability of the SCJS in 2020/21, the SSCQ were not published for 2020 and 2021, causing a break in the time-series. The Multiyear SSCQ analysis therefore started afresh with the 2022 data. The next Multiyear SSCQ analysis covering the years 2022-2023 will be published alongside this publication (SSCQ 2023).
The SSCQ 2023 are most comparable to the SSCQ 2019.