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CHAPTER THREE: DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS

3.1 This chapter describes the demographic profile of the respondents, focusing in particular on their age, ethnicity, household income, educational qualifications, and whether they live in an urban or rural location.

3.2 Respondents were aged between 16 and 96 years, with an average age of 50 years. Table 3.1 shows the demographic sex/age profile of the respondents and compares it to that for the 2004 and 2002 surveys. Once again the survey somewhat under-represented young people.

Table 3.1: Age and sex

3.3 Sixty five per cent of the respondents had no children (under 16) in the household. Sixteen per cent had one child (under 16), 13% had two and 5% had three or more.

3.4 In terms of their ethnicity, the majority of respondents described themselves as White/Scottish (84%) and 14% assigned themselves to another White category. The remainder of the sample were in other non-white categories, as illustrated in table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Ethnicity

Source: Ipsos MORI

3.5 Average household income for the sample was £22,192 per annum, which is higher than the comparable figure from both the 2005 Scottish Household Survey and previous waves of 'Well? What do you think?'. In part, this is likely to reflect the fact that the proportion of people refusing to reveal their income was relatively high in the present survey, at 24% ⁷ (table 3.3). Looking at the figures in more detail, the proportions of respondents with a household income of £10,400 or under and £20,800 or over have remained static over the 3 waves of 'Well? What do you think?'. However, there has been a decrease since 2004 in the proportion with a household income of between £10,400 and £20,800. Again, the high number of refusals recorded in 2006 may help to account for these differences.

3.6 Around half of respondents said they found it easy to manage on their income, while 31% said they found it manageable and 11% found it difficult. Since 2002, there has been a small, but consistent, move towards people finding it easier to manage on their household income.

Table 3.3: Annual household income

Table 3.4: Ease of managing on household income

Source: Ipsos MORI

3.7 Consistent with findings from previous waves of the survey, around half (54%) of respondents were in paid work while 24% were retired. Three per cent were registered unemployed/signing on for Job Seekers Allowance ( JSA), 4% were at home/not seeking work, 7% were long term sick or disabled and 8% were in full time education.

Table 3.5: Working status

Source: Ipsos MORI

3.8 Nine per cent of respondents said that their highest educational or professional qualification was the school leaving certificate/new National Qualification Access Unit. Fifteen per cent said it was O Grade/Standard Grade/ GCSE level or equivalent, while 8% said it was at SEC Higher Grade/ CSYS/A level or equivalent. Eleven per cent said they had achieved HNC, HND, SVQ Levels 4 or 5 or equivalent, 12% had a first degree and 10% had obtained professional qualifications. As table 3.6 shows, these results are consistent with those for the 2004 survey. Data for 2002 is not provided as the question wording differed slightly in that wave of the survey.

Table 3.6: Qualifications

Source: Ipsos MORI

3.9 While the sample was once again distributed proportionate to the population among NHS Board Areas, its urban/rural profile ⁹ differed somewhat to that of both the 2005 Scottish Household Survey and previous waves of 'Well? What do you think?' Specifically a lower proportion in the present sample lived in 'other urban areas' (band 2), while a higher proportion lived in accessible rural areas (band 5).

Table 3.7: Urban/rural composition

Source: Ipsos MORI

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