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PUBLIC ATTITUDES TO THE ENVIRONMENT IN SCOTLAND - TECHNICAL REPORT

Chapter 3 - QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

Two questionnaires were produced with each questionnaire being administered to half the sample. Questionnaires were not mixed across sample points. Rather 400 sample points were designated to receive questionnaire A and 400 to receive questionnaire B.

Each questionnaire was divided into sections, which was intended to make it easier for the interviewers to administer and respondents to interpret and reply. There was some commonality between the two questionnaires. The sections that were common to both questionnaires were entitled 'General Environmental Issues' (which comprised twenty-two questions) and 'Household Details' (which comprised eleven questions). The composition of questionnaires A and B is itemised below:

*Questions may be broken down into sub-questions on a theme

The questionnaires were developed jointly by George Street Research and the Scottish Executive. Liaison between George Street Research and the agencies which had an interest in the survey was co-ordinated by a project manager located within the Scottish Executive. The mix of questions used was subject to some debate between the interested parties and the project manager and the agreed format was made available to George Street Research in December 2001.

Prior to the main survey, the questionnaires were piloted twice to ensure that each question was clear and unambiguous. A briefing session was conducted with interviewers prior to each pilot exercise to explain to them the approach to follow. Each questionnaire was then piloted in the field using a free-found sample of 20 respondents. Quotas were set on age, sex and working status to ensure that the questionnaires were piloted with respondents from a variety of backgrounds.

The first pilot took place in October 2001 after which there were significant revisions as policy customers came up with new requirements. The second pilot briefing was conducted on 5 ^th December and the pilot fieldwork was undertaken from 6 ^th December through to 11 ^th December 2001. The pilot debrief was conducted on 12 ^th December 2001. As a result of feedback from the field interviewers, changes were made to the design of some questions and some format changes were made in order to remove any ambiguities and to help the interviewers in the administration of the questionnaires. Members of the Scottish Executive team attended the pilot briefing and debriefing sessions to offer input where necessary and to obtain feedback directly from the interviewers and their supervisors.

Executive staff of George Street Research and staff from the Scottish Executive also accompanied interviewers on a number of the pilot interviews.

Once the questionnaires had been amended, they were sent through to the Scottish Executive project manager for final approval prior to the main fieldwork phase. They were circulated to the client agencies to give them a final opportunity to ensure that the questions that would be put to the public were correct and appropriate to their needs. After this process was completed the questionnaires were approved.

Copies of both questionnaires are appended at appendix 3.

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