The Anholt Nation Brands Index®: 2024 Report For Scotland Methodology Report

Questionnaire overview

Questionnaire development and implementation

The NBI core question items had been developed and translated into local languages prior to 2008. All question items were translaed into the languages listed below by professional translators and proof-read by separate translation teams to ensure accuracy. Translators checked for proper grammar, syntax, style and punctation to assure correct understanding at the local country level and in keeping with the intent of the original document. Before the live launch of the survey, the programmed versions in all languages were tested online.

Below is a list of the languages used for each survey panel country (in alphabetical order):

Six dimensions of the Nation Brands Index^®

The NBI measures the power and appeal of each country's 'brand image' by examining six dimensions of national competence, the six dimensions are:

• Exports: Perceptions of products and services from each country; their view of a country's contribution to innovation in science and technology, and the degree to which a country is recognised as a creative place.
• Governance: Perceptions of a country's government competency and fairness, as well as its perceived commitment to global issues such as peace, poverty, and the environment.
• Culture: Perceptions of a country's cultural heritage; appreciation of its contemporary culture and perceptions of its sporting excellence.
• People: A country's reputation for employability; how open and welcoming is people are perceived to be; appeal of the people on a personal level.
• Tourism: The level of interest in visiting a country and the draw of it's natural beauty, historic built environment and city attractions.
• Immigration and Investment: A country's appeal as a place to live, work, invest or study, how people perceive a country's economic and social situation.

The NBI score is an average of the scores from these six dimensions, and each of the six indices is an average of the scores of the ratings questions from the corresponding area. There are between three and five ratings questions for each of the indices. Ratings for each attribute are based on a scale from one to seven, with seven being the highest and best, one being the lowest and worst, and four being the middle position that is neither positive nor negative. Each dimension also has a word choice question which helps enrich the understanding of the properties of a nation's image.

Questionnaire Outline

The questionnaire for all survey countries contained the following questions:

• Awareness of Nation: Single response from the following:
  • very well;
  • somewhat well;
  • just a little;
  • heard of but know almost nothing;
  • and never heard of it.
• Favourability: 7-point Likert scale anchored by extremely favourable, extremely unfavourable, and middle point anchored by neither favourable nor unfavourable.
• Experience and Attitudes: Multiple-response selected from the following:
  • visited for vacation;
  • visited for business;
  • purchased products or services from country.
• Ratings: 7-point Likert scale anchored by strongly agree, strongly disagree, and middle point anchored by neither agree nor disagree for each of 23 attributes spanning the six dimensions of Anholt's 'Hexagon of National Image' model (Exports, Governance, Culture, People, Tourism, Immigration and Investment).

Respondents are also asked questions across the six dimensions, these are set out by dimension below.

Exports:

• feel better/worse about buying products from the country;
• makes major contribution to innovation in science and technology;
• is a creative place with cutting-edge ideas and new ways of thinking;

Governance:

• is competently and honestly governed;
• respects rights of its citizens and treats them with fairness;
• behaves responsibly in international peace and security;
• behaves responsibly to protect the environment;
• behaves responsibly to help reduce world poverty;

Culture:

• excels at sports;
• has rich cultural heritage;
• is an interesting/exciting place for contemporary culture such as music, films, art and literature;

People:

• would like a person from country as close friend;
• the people would make me feel very welcome;
• willingness to hire well-qualified people from country;

Tourism:

• desire to visit if money is no object;
• rich in natural beauty;
• rich in historic buildings and monuments;
• has a vibrant city life and urban attractions;

Immigration and Investment:

• willingness to live and work for substantial period;
• place with a high quality of life;
• good place to study for educational qualifications;
• has businesses I'd like to invest in;
• country cares about equality in society;

Other topics covered in the survey include standard demographic questions including geographical region and race/ ethnicity where applicable.

Interpreting the 2024 Nation Brands Index^® data

In the long term, the NBI^SM represents a useful tool to track and monitor Scotland's reputation internationally. However, it does not provide an evaluative measure of policy interventions.

The contractors, Anholt & Co., own the concept, data and intellectual rights. The Scottish Government is therefore restricted in what it can publish from the NBI. The data published and analysed in this report represents the core information on Scotland's position in the NBI^SM.

The NBI provides both a rank and score of the overall and individual elements of a country's reputation. It is important to note that the rank is responsive to changes in the sample of evaluated countries and is therefore informative about the relative rankings in a particular year only. The score enables direct comparison between years.

Anholt & Co. supplied the Scottish Government with a methodology report, a narrative report, and the following datasets:

Full SPSS dataset. This includes all respondent data from the survey.

The 2024 Data Dashboard. This included data for the six dimensions, the attributes that comprise the dimensions, and other fundamental brand metrics covered in the NBI (for example: familiarity and favourability). The data dashboard was structured into the ratings and rankings for all 50 countries for all questions asked of the 20 panel countries.

The Demographic Dashboard. This comprised data for the ratings and rankings from the 20 panel countries combined (on a global level), disaggregated by some basic demographic variables: gender (male and female); five age groups (18-29; 30-44; 45+, 45-59, 60+); two categories of occupation (business/executives and other occupations); whether respondents have visited Scotland for either business or vacation (Yes or No), and whether respondents have visited a Scottish website (Yes or No).