NHSScotland Staff Survey 2015 National Report

5 Notes to aid interpretation

The 2015 Staff Survey comprised 31 top‐level questions, which all staff were expected to answer (21 attitudinal statements with a five‐point response scale, two attitudinal statements with a six‐point response scale and eight categorical e.g. Yes/No questions). There were also 14 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, Q2‐4 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, Q5‐5 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 2014 and 2015 surveys are statistically significant (at the 95% confidence level) unless stated otherwise. Significance testing was performed through the comparison of confidence intervals (with finite population correction) for findings in each survey.

The methodology for calculating and reporting of results, including comparisons, is detailed in the Technical Report.

Please note that differences between the 2013 and 2006/2008 survey results were not formally tested for statistical significance.