Scottish Health Survey 2018: questionnaire changes report

4. Explanatory Notes

Different ways that the questions can be asked

For the most part, the survey questions are asked via CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing). This takes the form of the interviewer verbally asking questions of the respondent and entering the responses into their computer. Some questions are asked via a self-completion questionnaire, which is a paper booklet completed by the respondent at the time of the interview.

Different versions of the questionnaire

Not all questions are asked of all respondents. Some questions are specific to either adults (16+) or children (0-15).

Beyond this, questions can be included in the survey in three main ways:

• Questions can be included in the core questionnaire, which means that they are asked of all respondents
• Questions can be included in the biological module, which is a component of the survey that includes blood pressure readings, saliva samples and questions on, for example, anxiety and depression. Only around 40% of survey respondents are selected to take part in the biological module
• Questions can be included in version A questionnaire, which means that they are asked of respondents who were not selected for the biological module (around 60% of survey respondents)

It is possible for questions to be rotating. This means that they are not asked every year – generally they are asked every second year. For example, a question in the rotating core would be asked of all respondents in a given year, but asked of no respondents the following year (and so on).