Public Attitudes to Poverty, Inequality and Welfare in Scotland and Britain

Annex - Note On Survey And Qualitative Methodology

British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA): interviews over 3,000 adults (18+) in Britain every year, including nearly 300 in Scotland. Interviews take place in interviewees own home on a range of topics. Random sample, representative of the British population.

Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (SSA): 1,200 - 1,500 Scottish adults (18+) interviewed in their own homes on a variety of topics. Random sample, representative of the Scottish population. The SSA focuses on poverty less frequently and in less depth than the BSA does, questions on public spending and welfare were asked in 1999, 2001 and 2010.

Scotpulse Survey: 1,275 responses to an online survey from members of the Scotpulse panel (12,500 Scottish adults aged 16+ are members of the Scotpulse panel, 3,500 members were invited to take the survey, 36% response rate). Survey results weighted by socioeconomic status, age and gender so as to be representative of Scotland as a whole. Survey was 16 questions based on BSA poverty questions, carried out between May and June 2013.

Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey - The 'Necessities of Life' survey was carried out between May and June 2012 and is based on a sample of 1,447 adults aged 16 or over in the Britain, including 111 in Scotland, and 1,015 in Northern Ireland. 2011 For Scotland, the survey was also complemented by a separate survey with a sample of 465 run in 2011. Respondents were shown a list of 76 items (46 items for adults and 30 items for children) and asked to select those which they felt were "necessary and which all people should be able to afford, and which they should not have to do without" and those that they felt "may be desirable but are not necessary".

JRF Public Attitudes to Poverty - Eight in-depth interviews with people whose income is below the relative poverty line in London, Liverpool and Birmingham; four discussion groups in areas of high deprivation, split between Liverpool and Birmingham; participants included both those in work and not in work and with a range of incomes; and a day-long deliberative workshop with 50 people in London. The interviews and discussion groups took place in November 2013 and the day long workshop in April 2014. Due to the small sample size, and qualitative methodology findings cannot be considered to be representative of the views of the general public as a whole.

Benefits stigma survey is an online quote sample survey of 2383 adults in Britain carried out in May 2012. The survey included a boost sample of benefits claimants but responses were weighted to make the sample nationally representative in terms of age, social grade, region, working status and gender.