Scottish household survey 2019: culture and heritage - report

Annex 2: Changes to the Questionnaire

As part of a substantial review of the whole SHS questionnaire, the response categories for culture and heritage were amended for the 2018 survey to better understand the nature and frequency of attendance and participation at cultural events, places and activities. Some categories were deleted, some added, and some were reworded.

Cultural attendance

In 2018, cultural attendance was defined as visiting any of 15 types of place or event in the last 12 months. This is one more category compared to 2017:

• "Streaming of a live performance (e.g. theatre or dance) into a local venue such as a cinema or community hall" was added to collect information on newer forms of digital cultural engagement.

One category was also reworded:

• "Gallery" became "Art Gallery".

Cultural Participation

In 2018, cultural participation was defined as taking part in any of 15 different types of activity in the last twelve months. This is five more than in 2017.

Three categories were added in 2018 to collect information on newer forms of digital cultural engagement:

• "Viewed performances (e.g. music or dance) online on a smartphone, computer, smart tv etc"
• "Viewed cultural content online (e.g. museum or heritage collections or artist’s work)" 
• "Shared art or creative content online that you have created yourself (such as digital art, music, dance, videos or recordings)" 

Two categories present in 2017 were split in two in 2018:

• "Photography as an artistic activity (not family or holiday 'snaps')" and "Film-making, video-making as an artistic activity" 
• "Taken part in a play (including backstage)" and "Sang in a singing group or choir"

Two categories were also reworded in 2018: 

• "Read books for pleasure (not newspapers, magazines or comics)" became "Read books for pleasure (including on a Kindle or other mobile device)". 
• "Used a computer or social media to produce creative work of any kind" became "Used a computer to produce artwork or animation". 

Cultural Engagement

In 2018, cultural engagement was defined as either attending any cultural place or event or participating in any cultural activity in the last twelve months, in other words, saying yes to one of the 30 individual categories. This is six more categories than in 2017.

The 2017 and 2018 questionnaires can be viewed online^[41].