Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2024
Information on the composition, characteristics and attitudes of Scottish households and adults across a number of topic areas.
2 Source Surveys and Core Questions
Results from the three large-scale Scottish Government population surveys are published separately:
- Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS)
- Scottish Health Survey (SHeS)
- Scottish Household Survey (SHS)
Of these, the SCJS and SHeS are published as Accredited Official Statistics while the SHS is published as Official Statistics. Further information on Population Surveys in Scotland can be found on the Scottish Government website.
Since the beginning of 2012, each of the surveys has 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 topics including equalities characteristics, housing, employment and perceptions of health and crime. Responses to these questions in all three surveys have been pooled to create the Scottish Surveys Core Questions (SSCQ) dataset with a sample size of around 20,000 responses.
Full details of the Scottish Surveys Core 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. Hence, the questions are batched into three groups: household questions, individual questions and crime questions, and three different sets of weights are calculated to ensure representative results. Sampling, weighting and pooled sample numbers are described separately for each survey below.
Scottish Crime and Justice Survey Technical Notes
Sampling, survey response and weighting are described in full in the SCJS technical report. In summary, the survey consists of a stratified systematic sample which is designed to achieve a robust sample at national and local authority level. The national target sample size is 5,000. One random adult per household is interviewed and asked all SSCQ and SCJS questions.
Scottish Health Survey Technical Notes
Sampling, survey response and weighting are described in full in the SHeS technical report. Briefly, the survey is a two-stage clustered stratified sample, with local authorities as strata, intermediate geographies as primary sampling units and addresses as secondary sampling units. The national target sample size is 3,500. 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 SCJS sampling procedure. The SHeS sample is boosted to provide more options for addresses to survey in selected health boards and for households containing children. This enables sufficient targets to be achieved for sampling across Scotland.
Scottish Household Survey Technical Notes
Sampling, survey response and weighting are described in full in the SHS technical report. The SHS consists of a single stage stratified systematic sample. The national target sample size is 10,500. The main SSCQ household questions are answered by the owner or principal renter of the property, and one adult is randomly selected to answer the individual and crime questions, in line with the other two surveys.