Section 3: Data
12. This section gives a brief overview of the data included in this summary.
13. The management information (from SAAS and SDS) generally covers both ILA Scotland offers. As will be shown in Table 4.1 the ILA 200 offer accounts for the majority of accounts opened and courses undertaken. As a result any information which is not broken down by offer ( i.e. into ILA 100 and ILA 200) will be dominated by ILA 200 characteristics.
14. In some of the management information individuals can be counted once for each course they undertake. Where this occurs there will be over-counting when individuals have undertaken more than one course.
15. The research evaluation of ILA Scotland was carried out by BMRB on behalf of the Scottish Government. It involved samples drawn from successful applicants to both the ILA 200 offer and the ILA 100 offer. Successful applicants are those whose applications were approved by ILA Scotland and therefore had an ILA Scotland account irrespective of whether they went on to undertake any learning or not. The survey consisted of an initial interview of successful applicants on each ILA Scotland offer (wave 1) and a follow-up interview carried out approximately 9 months later (wave 2).
16. A brief overview of the methodology used can be found in Appendix A and a more detailed description is given in the ILA Scotland Learners Study. It is worth noting timescales here: ILA 200 participants were interviewed between January-February 2006 (wave 1) with follow-ups from September to November 2006 (wave 2) and the sample was drawn from successful applicants who had applied between January and July 2005. ILA 100 participants were interviewed between November and December 2006 (wave 1) with follow-ups between August and September 2007 (wave 2) and the sample was drawn from successful applicants who had applied at any time in 2005 or 2006.
17. It is important to remember that during the course of the research evaluation some changes were made to the ILA Scotland scheme in terms of income thresholds, qualifications and subjects covered. This may result in people having different experiences of the scheme depending on when they opened their account, attended courses and were interviewed. In addition more recent participants in the ILA Scotland scheme may have different experiences and characteristics than those in the research evaluation.