Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Survey of Public Attitudes to the Environment in Scotland, 2002 was commissioned to provide nationally-representative information about the views of the Scottish public towards a wide range of environmental topics, with particular policy relevance in Scotland. It aimed to provide data on the environmental knowledge, actions and attitudes of a sample of the Scottish population, and to chart how these concerns have changed since the last Scottish survey on the subject, conducted in 1991, which is not held at the UK Data Archive (UKDA). Furthermore, the 2002 survey also sought to measure what the Scottish public are doing to help protect the environment and what they think government and others should be doing in this capacity. The survey was designed to be representative of those in the Scottish population aged over 16 years and resident in private households. It was also constructed to allow reliable comparison of responses between respondents in rural and urban areas. Further information about the 2002 survey, including data tables and frequencies, survey content, and online publications, may be found on the Scottish Executive Public Attitudes to the Environment in Scotland web page. A similar survey series on public attitudes to the environment, covering England and Wales, is held at UKDA under SN 33226.

Main Topics:

Two versions of the survey questionnaire were produced. All respondents were asked some household and demographic questions and also whether they had worries about a range of environmental issues. Their views were also sought on the quality of loch and sea water, woodlands, organisations that protect the environment, how the environment should be protected, barriers to solving environmental problems, and their own environmental behaviour. Half of the sample were then asked about their views on sustainable development, climate change and flooding, energy, radioactivity and radiation. The remaining half were asked about their attitudes towards waste and recycling, drinking water, national parks, wildlife and habitats, litter and dog fouling.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Face-to-face interview