Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2014

Annex B: Comparison of the pooled surveys

In this section, key outcome variables are assessed across the three surveys to determine if there is broad agreement between the constituents of the SSCQ. Where the quoted confidence intervals overlap, we can assume that differences in the estimates are not statistically significant.

Estimates in these tables will be close to but may not be identical to figures published by the individual surveys. This is due to differences in the valid sample size and weights being applied before pooling (see section 11.1).

The three surveys and the pool broadly agree on the distribution of self-assessed health (Table B.1) and on the proportion of the adult population that smoke (Table B.2).

Respondents to the Scottish Health Survey ( SHeS) are somewhat more likely to say that they suffer from a long-term limiting health condition (Table B.3). Respondents are more likely to identify long-term conditions when asked about them in the context of an interview about numerous aspects of their health and wellbeing. A similar collection effect can be observed in mental wellbeing scores, where the average score given in SHeS is somewhat lower than that in the other two surveys (Table B.4).

Table B.1: Self-assessed general health by survey (row % and margin of error)

Table B.2: Current smoker (row % and margin of error)

Table B.3: Long-term limiting health condition (row % and margin of error)

Table B.4: Average mental wellbeing score (scale from 7-35) and margin of error

The three surveys produce somewhat different estimates of the rate of provision of unpaid care, as shown in Table B.5. SCJS has the highest level, at 19.6%, followed by SHS at 17.2% and SHeS at 16%.The confidence intervals on estimates from SHS and SHeS overlap considerably and do represent a significant difference. SCJS is 2.4 points higher than SHS and the combined CIs are 2.2 points.

Table B.5: Provides unpaid care (row % and margin of error)

Respondents to the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey ( SCJS) are more likely to perceive a large increase in the crime rate of their local area and somewhat lower levels of confidence in the police overall (Tables B.5 & B.6).

Table B.6: Perception of local crime rate (row % and margin of error)

Table B.7: Confidence in the Police to… (row % and margin of error)