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Social Focus on Urban Rural Scotland 2003
Appendix 1: Definitions and Terms
Symbols and Conventions
The following symbols have been used within tables:
.. not available
. not applicable
- negligible (less than half the final digit shown)
0 nil
In tables where figures have been rounded to the nearest final digit, there may be an apparent discrepancy between the sum of the constituent items and the total as shown.
Definitions and Terms
(i) Scottish Household Survey
Information sources available for Scotland are often too infrequent, insufficiently detailed, or based on too small samples to provide reliable information for Scotland. Thus, in April 1998, Scottish Office Ministers approved the commissioning by the then Scottish Office Development Department of a new large scale survey - The Scottish Household Survey.
The findings from the survey are of interest to a wide audience and provide the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Executive and other interested parties with accurate, up-to-date information on the impact on households and individuals of key services and policies for which the Parliament is now responsible.
In many areas of the work of the Scottish Executive Development Department - particularly Social Justice and Transport - effective evaluation of policy and development of policy advice requires good quality information on the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of households and individuals at national and sub-national level.
The survey commenced in February 1999 and has achieved a sample of approximately 62,000 households collected continuously over the first four years - the contract has now been extended for another four years. Interviews are being carried out in approximately 3,900 households each quarter. The survey is designed so that the interviews from each quarter will provide results which are representative of Scotland as a whole. Statistically reliable results are available for larger local authorities on an annual basis and for all Local Authorities, regardless of size, every 2 years.
The SHS data have been weighted to take account of the unequal probabilities of selection inherent in the sample design due to (a) the over-sampling of smaller local authority areas relative to their household population in order to obtain a minimum number of interviews in each area and (b) the under-sampling of adults resident in multi-person households because only one 'random adult' is interviewed in each household.
Comparisons with external sources, such as Census data and the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey, suggest that the weighted data are broadly representative of the Scottish household population; consequently, no further weighting has been carried out.
Throughout this publication the results from the Scottish Household Survey include a base. The base is 'unweighted' and gives the number of respondents in each area type. The base figures should not be used to calculate percentages across area types. The percentages provided within tables are weighted to take account of the inherent over-sampling in certain area types.
The bases reported in tables may differ. In some cases this is because they relate to different populations (such as all households, all adults). In addition, some questions were not asked of all respondents because they only applied in certain circumstances. In some cases, the bases differ because some people did not want to answer certain questions, or because the information that was requested was not available at the time of the interview. The base sizes are indicated in each table.
Significant differences presented in the text are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. The statistical significance of reported differences have been confirmed by a t-test.
Where data is available results have been provided for 2000 and 2001.
The term household income refers to net income (i.e. after taxation and other deductions) from employment, benefits and other sources, which is brought into the household by the highest income householder and/or their spouse or partner.
While in general, the level of missing data throughout the SHS was minimal, there was an appreciable level of item non-response in relation to the income information. Incomplete data resulted in around 34% of households having no computed total net income. Imputation of income information was carried out. This is a process whereby complete information given by a 'similar' household is used for respondents that are missing information on income. Income is collected as a variety of different components, which are summed to create total net household income. Income was imputed for each component using either Hot Deck imputation, where the sample is divided into subgroups based on relevant characteristics, or Predictive Mean where a statistical model is constructed and the value is predicted using this model. After imputation, income data is unavailable for only 2.5% of households.
Household is defined as one person or a group of people living in accommodation as their only or main residence and either sharing at least one meal a day or sharing the living accommodation.
(ii) Labour Force Survey
Employment rate is those who are in employment expressed as a percentage of all persons of working age.
Unemployment rate is the measure, which counts those of working age who are without a job, are available to start work in the next 2 weeks, and have been seeking a job in the last 4 weeks, or are waiting to start a job already obtained, as unemployed. It is expressed as a percentage of the economically active of working age.
Economically active are those who are in employment or unemployed of working age.
Economic activity rate is those who are in employment or unemployed expressed as a percentage of those economically active plus those outside the labour market (the economically inactive), of working age.
Economically inactive are those who are neither in employment nor unemployed. This group includes, for example, all those who were looking after a home or retired.
Full time employees are those who work over 30 hours per week.
Part time employees are those who work 30 or under hours per week.
Disabled people are people that answered yes to the following question: "Do you have any health problems or disabilities that you expect will last for more than a year?".
(iii) 2001 Census
In the 2001 Census information was collected only on usual residents (this contrasts to the 1991 Census which collected information on both usual residents and visitors on Census night). A usual resident at an address is generally defined as someone who spends most of their time residing at that address. It includes:
- People who usually live at the address but are temporarily away from home (on holiday, visiting friends or relatives or temporarily in a hospital or similar establishment) on Census Day (29 April 2001).
- A spouse or partner who works away from home for part of the time, or is a member of the Armed Forces.
- Students at their term-time address.
- A baby born before 30th April 2001 even if he or she is still in hospital.
- People present on Census Day, even if temporarily, who have no other usual address.
However, it does not include:
- Anyone present on Census Day who has another usual address.
- Anyone who has been living, or will live, in a special establishment such as a residential home, nursing home or hospital for six months or more.
(vi) Health
The "Carstairs and Morris index of deprivation" is composed of four indicators, which were judged to represent material disadvantage in the population, using 1991 census data. The index also correlates well with a range of health inequalities. The four indicators are combined to create a composite score. The deprivation score is divided into seven separate categories, ranging from very high to very low deprivation. The seven categories were designed so as to retain the discriminatory features of the distribution of the deprivation score, rather than to ensure equality of numbers between each deprivation category. The four variables are:
- Overcrowding: persons in private house-holds living at a density of more than one person per room as a proportion of all persons in private households
- Male unemployment: proportion of economically active males who are seeking work
- Social class 4 or 5: proportion of all persons in private households with head of household in social class 4 or 5
- No car: proportion of all persons in private households with no car
All of the proportions are calculated on the households in a given postcode sector.
Dental Health in children statistics are available from the Scottish Health Boards' Dental Epidemiological Programme (SHBDEP). This is a joint venture between all fifteen Health Boards (represented through the Chief Administrative Dental Officers/Consultants in Dental Public Health Group) and the Chief Scientist Office's Dental Health Services Research Unit based at the University of Dundee. Standardised surveys are undertaken on randomly selected samples of children across Scotland using the criteria and timetable agreed by the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD). This enables Boards to compare their own results with other areas of Scotland and with other parts of the UK.
(v) Absence
Authorised absence was defined as:
- Sickness
- Medical and dental treatment
- Bereavement
- Domestic circumstances relating to exceptional hardship at home
- No school within walking distance and no transport arrangements
- Study leave
- Religious observance
- Family holidays where attendance is otherwise satisfactory
- Meetings prior to, and in court
- Attendance at, or in connection with a Child Care Review
- Attendance at, or in connection with a Children's Hearing
- Weddings of immediate family
- Certified debates, sports, musical or theatrical productions not arranged by, or in conjunction with the school
- Extended visits overseas to relatives
- Sanctioned, extended absence in relation to children of travelling families.
Unauthorised absence was defined as:
- Truancy, an application having been made to the education authority in relation to an attendance order
- Truancy, an appeal having been made to the Sheriff in relation to an attendance order
- Family holidays where attendance is otherwise unsatisfactory
- Truancy, defined as unauthorised absence from school, for any period, as a result of premeditated or spontaneous action on the part of the pupil, parents or both
- Unexplained absence.
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