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1. Background to the survey
The Scottish Household Survey ( SHS) is a continuous sample survey of the population in private residences in Scotland. The survey, started in 1999, is financed by the Scottish Executive. From 1999 to 2006, it was undertaken by a partnership of TNS System Three and Ipsos- MORI Scotland. From 2007 the partnership included the Scottish Centre for Social Research. The aim of the survey is to provide representative information about the composition, characteristics and behaviour of Scottish households, nationally and at Local Authority level. There are no geographical exclusions from the survey; it covers all parts of Scotland, including the Highlands and Islands.
The survey covers a wide range of topics. This allows links to be made between different policy areas. There is a particular focus on information to inform policy on transport, communities and local government. The purpose of this Headline Report is to release the 2006 survey data into the public domain. A full report on the findings of the 2005/2006 survey will be published in August 2007. It will present the results for the two calendar years taken together, in order to obtain a sample size that is large enough to provide results by Local Authority. The figures in this report are provisional: some may be revised for the full annual report.
The survey sample provides a nationally representative sample of private households and of the adult population in private households. This is achieved by splitting the interview between a household respondent and an adult selected at random from the permanent residents of the household. In 2006, the survey covered 15,618 households and 14,190 random adults.
Interviewing is conducted using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing ( CAPI). The survey questionnaire is in two parts. The householder or their spouse/partner completes Part 1 of the interview. Once the composition of the household has been established, one of the adults in the household is randomly selected by the computer to complete Part 2. In all households with only one adult the same person completes both parts but as the number of adults in the household increases, the probability of the random adult being the same as the household respondent declines.
The data presented in the report have been weighted in one of two ways. Household data (collected in Part 1 of the interview) are weighted to take account of the disproportionate sampling and response between local authorities. Random adult data (from Part 2) are weighted to reflect both the disproportionate sampling and response to Part 2 between local authorities and the different probabilities of selection within households.
Full details of the survey can be obtained from the companion Technical Reports. There are three parts to the Technical Reports detailing separately the methodology, the fieldwork outcomes and the questionnaire used. The Technical Reports, Annual report and other publications from the survey are on-line at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/shs.
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