Scottish Household Survey
2011 Quarter 2 Data Release
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Data Release
This is the latest in a series of quarterly releases which announces the availability of the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) for a particular quarter. In accordance with National Statistics, this will help to ensure orderly and open access to the SHS. In practice, this means that the SHS for this quarter can be used to answer questions to inform policy from people within and outwith the Scottish Government.
This release announces the availability of SHS data up to and including 2011 Quarter 2. This release covers 4,259 household interviews and 3,801 random adult interviews from the second quarter of 2011. The release of 2011 Quarter 1 information was provided alongside that of the SHS 2009/2010 Annual Report published in August 2011.
Background to the Survey
The SHS is a continuous survey based predominantly on a sample of the general adult population in private residences in Scotland. It is designed to provide accurate, up-to-date information about the characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of Scottish households and individuals on a range of issues. The survey covers a wide range of topics to allow links to be made between different policy areas. There is a particular focus on information to inform policy on Transport, Communities and Local Government.
The SHS Project Team within the Scottish Government guides all aspects of the survey, ensuring it continues to evolve to meet emerging needs. A major role is in promoting the dissemination of the survey findings and the use of the data within the Scottish Government and in the wider policy and research communities. In addition, within the Scottish Government, a number of researchers and statisticians act as Lead Analysts for the SHS in their particular policy area.
The fieldwork and preliminary data processing is undertaken by a consortium of contractors - Ipsos-MORI Scotland and TNS-BMRB.
Dissemination
Results are reported in a series of annual reports, topic reports and other Scottish government publications which can be found on the survey's website at www.scotland.gov.uk/SHS
The most recent report which presents a broad range of analysis is the SHS Annual Report 2009/2010. The annual report is designed to act as an introduction to the survey and to present and interpret some of the key policy-relevant results at a national level. Supporting analysis was also presented through a series of Web Tables, providing more detailed analysis and further disaggregations of data, including some sub-national estimates, as well as the Local Authority Tables which provide comparative analysis to those presented in the Annual Report for each local authority in Scotland. Further information available from the SHS annual publication summary pages at www.scotland.gov.uk/SHSAnnualReport
To stimulate use of SHS data, particularly amongst local authorities, a number of data access procedures have been in place to allow access to detailed information.
- Follow-up surveys provide opportunities to 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.
- Similarly, a request to be provided with a special dataset can be submitted where the standard publicly available and anonymised datasets does not contain all the information researchers require. This should allow users to undertake more detailed analyses for a specific project.
- A simplified version of the full survey data is available, called SHS Lite. This dataset incorporates a significant reduction in the number of variables, complex data loops removed and replaced with summarised variables, with variables organised into 'sets' of related variables. This dataset is only derived using two-year datasets, the latest available being SHS Lite 2007/2008.
- A ad-hoc request service is also available allowing requests for analysis to be submitted to the SHS Project Team.
For information on how to access SHS data please see www.scotland.gov.uk/SHSDataAccess
Anonymised copies of the survey are deposited with the Economic and Social Data Service website ( www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/shsTitles.asp) after each biennial survey completion, together with supporting documentation to facilitate wider access to, and analysis of, the information gathered. The most recent data available is from the SHS 2007/2008. We are aiming to have the SHS 2009/2010 data available through the Economic and Social Data Service website by December 2011.
The trends previously presented in this publication have been removed out of scope from this release. We have continued to make these available on the SHS website in case these are required for any analysis.
Geographical Availability
Although the SHS has a large sample that covers the whole of Scotland, it has some geographical limitations because of the sample sizes in small local authorities and because it is designed to be representative only at national and local authority level.
In particular, the SHS is designed to be nationally representative every quarter, representative for larger Local Authorities (LA) every year, and all LA's (regardless of size) over a two-year period.
It is not appropriate to undertake geographical analysis below local authority level since the sampling techniques used in some local authorities cannot guarantee representativeness in smaller areas.
Methodological Changes
No substantial amendments have been made to the SHS in 2011, though key things to note are:
- Greenspace questions were amended to capture improved information on how often local greenspace is used, satisfaction with greenspace and distance to greenspace;
- The benefit type 'Employment and Support Allowance' was added to the appropriate benefit questions;
- Travel Diary question relating to return journeys to be "Can I just check, did you make the same journey in the opposite direction, i.e. from {destination} to {origin}, using more or less the same route and the same transport, either straight away or later in the day'.
Further amendments were made to the "harmonised core questions" to ensure alignment against the standard definitions (( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About/SurveyHarm):
- Household relationship matrix relationship options need standardised;
- Religion with introduction of Pagan;
- Qualifications held with updates to various levels);
- Mode of transport to work schools (adding option for 'tram');
- Accommodation type questions updated.
A summary of methodological issues within the SHS is available from www.scotland.gov.uk/SHSMethodology
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