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INVESTIGATION OF ACCESS TO PUBLIC SERVICES IN SCOTLAND USING BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE

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Appendix four: Description of the Sample

A4.1 Deaf people were approached in four age groups - 18-29 years, 30-44 years, 45-59 years and 60+ years. There was expected to be gender balance but more in C2DE and unemployed categories than the national average. Ethnic group representation was targeted at 5%. Participants were located by Deaf researchers who travelled (on several occasions) to each town/Deaf club. This quota approach has been used successfully several times in previous work with Deaf people throughout the UK. The data from Stornoway and from Lerwick is quite different and is described separately Appendix 5).

Table A4.1: Age and Location (n=80) (target in brackets)

Age group (yrs)

Total

18-29

30-45

46-60

61+

location

Aberdeen

1

0

8

6

15(16)

Edinburgh

6

6

4

5

21(20)

Glasgow

11

7

8

4

30(30)

Inverness

1

4

1

1

7(7)

Kirkcaldy

1

2

2

2

7(7)

Total

20(20)

19(20)

23(20)

18(20)

80

A4.2 As can be seen (Table A4.1) the location and age targets were matched quite closely. Although people were interviewed in the locations described above, they may reside in another place. A simple classification was made of city (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen) town (smaller towns nearby) and village (usually very small town nearby). Table A4.2 shows the distribution.

Table A4.2 Location of Interview and home

Numbers

Home located in

Total

city

town

village

location

Aberdeen

12

2

1

15

Edinburgh

12

4

5

21

Glasgow

24

5

1

30

Inverness

0

5

2

7

Kirkcaldy

0

5

2

7

Total

48

21

11

80

A4.3 There is a significant number of people who were interviewed who came from smaller centres and this can be taken into account in the analysis. There is a difference in average age between those in cities (43 years), towns (48 years) and villages (51 years) - however, the difference is not statistically significant.

A4.4 As might be expected marital status is linked to age (Table A4.3) although there are fewer Deaf people married than hearing people - see last line of the table scaled from the Census 2001. This would be a typical finding - 7-10% less of the Deaf community are likely to be married.

Table A4.3 Age Group and marital Status

Numbers

married

Total

n/k

divorced

married

single

widowed

Age group

18-29

1

0

3

16

0

20

30-45

0

3

8

8

0

19

46-60

0

6

15

1

1

23

61+

0

4

8

3

3

18

Total

1

13

34

28

4

80

Scottish Census

9

40

24

7

80

A4.5 The largest single group (26%) had attended Donaldson's School in Edinburgh with equal numbers from the Glasgow School and St Vincent's School (7.5% each). Nine percent had been educated in England and 45% had attended other schools for the Deaf or even mainstream schools. Six percent were from non-white ethnic groups.

Table A4.4: Age Group and Gender

Numbers

Gender

Total

Scottish Census

F

M

Age group

18-29

10

10

20

17

30-45

12

7

19

23

46-60

12

11

23

19

61+

7

11

18

21

Total

41

39

80

Scottish Census

42

38

A4.6 There were marginally more females in the sample than males which is close to the Scottish population and the age group distribution is similar (although the Census age categories are marginally different). The Deaf group has an over-weighting in the 45-60 year old group, as compared to the Scottish population.

Table A4.5: Age Group and Job classification

Numbers

Job

Total

Professional
AB

Office
C1

Trade
C2DE

Unemployed/
retired/
at home

Age group

18-29

1

9

4

6

20

30-45

3

4

3

9

19

46-60

0

4

9

10

23

61+

0

0

3

14

17

Total

4

17

19

39

79

Scottish Census

15

8

17

33

A4.7 The job classification was part of the original quota sample - although this had to be relaxed in the latter stages of the project. There are clear differences according to age in the sample with the younger group much more likely to report a professional job. Older people are more likely to be retired or at home for some reason.

A4.8 When related to the Scottish population as a whole (16-74 years) this population has some differences. More of the Deaf sample are outside the employment market - 39 (49%) as compared to 42% of hearing people - this would be predicted on the expectation of greater use of disability allowances and early retirement opportunities for Deaf people. Of those people in work, there are also predictable differences. Many more hearing people are in professional and managerial roles - in fact, none of the Deaf sample are in the category of what would be termed managers or senior officials which is 12.6% of the hearing population. It seems that more deaf people are in office jobs and this is a pattern related to age.

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Page updated: Monday, May 23, 2005