Scottish Land Fund: evaluation

Presentation and Interpretation of Findings

Data Overview

Quantitative data

Quantitative data identifies the prevalence of particular views among the population group and identifies differences in opinion by key demographic variables.

Throughout the report, differences between variables are commented upon only where we are sure these are statistically significant i.e. where we can be 95% certain that they have not occurred by chance.

Where percentages do not sum to 100%, this may be due to rounding, the exclusion of 'don't know' categories, or multiple answers. Aggregate percentages (e.g. "good/poor") are calculated from the absolute values. Therefore, aggregate percentages may differ from the sum of the individual scores due to rounding of percentage totals. Throughout the report, an asterisk (*) denotes any value of less than half a percent and a dash (-) denotes zero.

Qualitative data

The qualitative samples are designed to ensure that a range of different views and experiences are captured, meaning it is not appropriate to draw conclusions from qualitative data about the prevalence of views or experiences among the population group. As such, quantifying language, such as 'all', 'most' or 'a few' is avoided as far as possible when discussing qualitative findings.

Report Structure

The findings from the various strands of the evaluation, including the secondary analysis, survey of applicants and qualitative interviews have been thematically grouped using cross-cutting themes emerging from the data.

The report begins with an overview of the management information as analysed in stage 1 of the evaluation. The remainder of the report follows the structure of the survey questionnaire.