Scottish Household Survey Quarterly Bulletin No.1

8 Further infprmation about the survey

The main policy focus of the survey falls within the areas of transport, local government and social inclusion. The main features of the survey are that:

• The sample will be large enough for disaggregate analysis by local authority area and specific population groups after two years.
• Because of the range of topic coverage, the survey will allow an exploration of the relationship between different sets of variables - e.g. poverty and victimisation, housing and ill health.
• The survey will provide the first representative Scottish data on many subjects - e.g. access to the Internet, daily travel patterns, etc.
• Because the survey runs continuously, it will allow time-series analysis over the next four years as well as enabling seasonal patterns to be explored within years.
• By seeking the respondent's consent to be re-contacted for follow-up research, the survey becomes a valuable means of sampling difficult-to-identify sections of the population.
• Because the data from the survey will be placed in the public domain, the survey will become a potentially valuable resource for policy-makers, researchers and other interested parties.