Scottish Social Attitudes 2015: Technical Report

This report provides detailed information on the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2015, including on the sample, response rate, and the approach to weighting and analysis.


4. Response rates

4.1 The numbers completing the face-to-face and self-completion sections of the survey in 2015 are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: 2015 Scottish Social Attitudes survey response

No. % of 'eligible' (in scope) sample
Addresses issued 3,120
Vacant, derelict and other out of scope 1 324 10
Achievable or 'in scope' 2796
Unknown eligibility 2 17 1
Interview achieved 1,288 46
Self-completion completed 1,233 44
Interview not achieved
Refused 3 1104 39
Non-contact 4 242 9
Other non-response 5 162 6

Notes to table

1 This includes empty / derelict addresses, holiday homes, businesses and institutions, and addresses that had been demolished.

2 'Unknown eligibility' includes cases where the address could not be located, where it could not be determined if an address was residential and where it could not be determined if an address was occupied or not.

3 Refusals include: refusals prior to selection of an individual; refusals to the office; refusal by the selected person; 'proxy' refusals made by someone on behalf of the respondent; and broken appointments after which a respondent could not be re-contacted.

4 Non-contacts comprise households where no one was contacted after at least 6 calls and those where the selected person could not be contacted.

5 'Other non-response' includes people who were ill at home or in hospital during the survey period, people who were physically or mentally unable to participate and people in which a language barrier made recruitment too difficult (despite translation and interpreting services being offered)

4.2 Table 2 below shows the achieved response rates for all years the survey has taken place.

Table 2: Scottish Social Attitudes survey response rate by year

Survey year Response rate
1999 59%
2000 65%
2001 60%
2002 62%
2003 59%
2004 61%
2005 56%
2006 56%
2007 55%
2009 55%
2010 54%
2011 55%
2012 54%
2013 55%
2014 54%
2015 46%

Contact

Email: Donna Easterlow

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