NHSSCOTLAND STAFF SURVEY 2013 National Report

5. Notes to Aid Interpretation

The 2013 Staff Survey comprised 29 top-level questions, which all staff were expected to answer (21 attitudinal statements with a five-point response scale and eight Yes/No questions). There were also 13 sub-questions, to be answered only if relevant to a previous response.

As with previous surveys, the main unit of measurement is the percentage of staff who answered positively to each question.

For example, for attitudinal questions, where respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement, responses of strongly agree and agree were considered positive. For each question, the percentage of respondents who selected each response option is also reported along with the total percentage of positive responses. Full details of the response categories for the attitudinal questions are shown below:

It is important to look at these detailed results, across all the response categories, when interpreting the survey findings.

There were also a number of non-scale questions where staff were asked to respond either Yes or No. Where the question was worded positively, a Yes was considered a positive response. For example, Q4d. 'Did you agree a Personal Development Plan (PDP) or equivalent?'. In cases where the question was negative, No was considered a positive response. For example, Q7e. 'During the past 12 months while working for your organisation have you experienced bullying/harassment from your manager?'.

Percentages are based on those staff who gave a valid response to each question and are rounded to the nearest whole number, so may not total 100%.

All reported differences in the percentage of positive responses between the 2010 and 2013 surveys are statistically significant unless stated otherwise. Please note that differences between the 2013 and 2006/2008 survey results were not formally tested for statistical significance.