Question Bank
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Future Paisley Evaluation Development Renfrewshire Council
Collecting Demographic and Cultural Participation and Perceptions Data
1. Introduction
We have been speaking with Project Leads over the Summer and Autumn, and understand that quite a few projects are collecting data via surveys or regular feedback forms. Some project leads reported designing these themselves, and asked for some help making sure that some questions – e.g. questions about the age of audiences – were standardised. We thought it would be valuable to provide a set of standardised questions about demographic characteristics, alongside some standardised questions about the cultural experiences or participation of audiences and visitors.
How do I use the questions?
- We are presenting these as a ‘bank’ of resources – you don’t need to use them all. You can select the ones which are appropriate for your project, reflecting what you want to know and also what it is appropriate and proportional to collect, depending on your activities and your collection method.
- All of these questions match question formats used in other data sources, which means that – if it’s useful to – you can compare the answers from your survey to a Scotland-wide data source, to see how representative your audiences/visitors/participants are of the national population.
- Where more than one project uses the same questions, this also allows us to build up a picture across different Future Paisley funded activities. If you are running more than one activity and associated survey, it might help you to build up a picture across the different activities you run.
- Ideally, you want your survey data to be representative of the people who are attending, visiting or taking part in your activity/ies. When thinking about how representative your data is, you need to think about whether your data collection approach is:
- Reflecting the different types of activities. if you are running more than one activity and they may have very different groups engaging with them, you may need to collect data from each activity.
- Reflecting the types of people attending. Ideally you want a representative sample – or all – of those who attended or engaged in activities. If you expect data to be collected from a sample, and you want it to be as accurate as possible, you may need to think about how you collect that sample. The Audience Agency has a Good Practice Guide to sampling which is available here.
- Reflecting the different types of activities. if you are running more than one activity and they may have very different groups engaging with them, you may need to collect data from each activity.
2 Demographic Questions
Gender
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
How would you describe your gender identity? | Female | Should be broadly comparable with both national sources and local authority profile |
Male | ||
Non-binary | ||
Prefer not to say | ||
Not known |
Age
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
What is your age? | 0-4 | Population Data for Scotland, including at a local authority level (i.e. for Renfrewshire) by combining some categories |
5-15 | ||
16-24 | ||
25-44 | ||
45-64 | ||
65 or older | ||
Prefer not to say | ||
Not known |
Ethnicity
Question | Answer Options – main and subcategories | National comparative source | |
Which option best describes your ethnic group or background? | White | Scottish | Scottish Household Survey Scotland’s Census 2022 Local Authority Profile for Renfrewshire, 2015 NB. most comparisons deal with data grouped together into the main headings, rather than at the sub-heading level. |
Other British | |||
Irish | |||
Gypsy/Traveller | |||
Polish | |||
Other white ethnic group (please say what) | |||
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups | Any mixed or multiple ethnic groups (please say what) | ||
Asian, Asian Scottish, or Asian British | Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British | ||
Indian, Indian Scottish or Indian British | |||
Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi Scottish or Bangladeshi British | |||
Chinese, Chinese Scottish or Chinese British | |||
Other (please say what) | |||
African | African, African Scottish or African British | ||
Other (please say what) | |||
Caribbean or Black | Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British | ||
Black, Black Scottish, or Black British | |||
Other (please say what) | |||
Other ethnic group | Arab, Arab Scottish or Arab British | ||
Any other ethnic group (please say what) | |||
Prefer not to say | |||
Not known | |||
Disability and long-term health conditions
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
Are your day-to-day activities limited because of a health condition or disability which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months? | Yes, limited a lot | Scottish Household Survey Scotland’s Census 2022 Local Authority Profile for Renfrewshire 2015 |
Yes, limited a little | ||
No | ||
Prefer not to say | ||
Not known |
Sexual Orientation
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation? | Straight/Heterosexual | Scottish Household Survey Scotland’s Census 2022 |
Gay or Lesbian | ||
Bisexual | ||
Other sexual orientation, please say what | ||
Prefer not to say | ||
Not known |
3 Cultural participation and perceptions
Cultural attendance
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
In the last 12 months have you been to any of these events or places? Do not include paid work, school, or academic activities Select all that apply | Cinema | Scottish Household Survey, Culture Questions |
Library (including mobile and online) | ||
Classical music performance or opera | ||
Live music event – e.g., traditional music, rock concert, jazz event (not opera or classical music performance) | ||
Theatre – e.g., pantomime / musical / play | ||
Dance show / event e.g., ballet | ||
Historic place – e.g., castle, stately home and grounds, battle, or archaeological site | ||
Museum | ||
Art gallery | ||
Exhibition – including art, photography, and crafts | ||
Street arts (e.g., musical performances or art in parks, streets, or shopping centre) | ||
Culturally specific festival (e.g., Mela / Fèis / local Gala days) | ||
Book festival or reading group | ||
Archive or records office (e.g., Scotland’s Family History Peoples Centre) | ||
Streaming of a live performance (e.g., theatre or dance) into a local venue such as a cinema or community hall | ||
None |
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
[For each item selected in the list in the question above, using the logic system in the survey design] How often in the last 12 months have you been to this type of event or place? | At least once a week | Scottish Household Survey, Culture Questions |
Less often than once a week but at least once a month | ||
Less often than once a month but at least 3-4 times a year | ||
Twice in the last 12 months | ||
Once in the last 12 months | ||
Don’t know |
Cultural participation
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
In the last 12 months have you done any of these activities? Do not include paid work, school, or academic activities Select all that apply | Read books for pleasure (including on a Kindle or other mobile device | Scottish Household Survey, Culture Questions |
Dance, either for fitness or not for fitness | ||
Played a musical instrument of written music | ||
Taken part in a theatrical performance such as a play, musical, comedy or variety performance (including production/backstage) | ||
Sang in a singing group or choir | ||
Painting, drawing, printmaking, or sculpture | ||
Photography as an artistic activity (not family or holiday ‘snaps’) | ||
Filmmaking / video-making as an artistic activity | ||
Used a computer to produce artwork or animation | ||
Crafts such as knitting, wood, pottery, etc | ||
Creative writing – stories, books, plays or poetry | ||
Viewed performances (e.g., music or dance) online on a smartphone, computer, smart tv etc | ||
Viewed cultural content online (e.g., museum or heritage collections or artist’s work) | ||
Shared art or creative content online that you have created yourself (such as digital art, music, dance, videos, or recordings) | ||
Other cultural activity | ||
None |
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
[For each item selected in the list in the question above, using the logic system in the survey design] How often in the last 12 months have you been to this type of event or place? | At least once a week | Scottish Household Survey, Culture Questions |
Less often than once a week but at least once a month | ||
Less often than once a month but at least 3-4 times a year | ||
Twice in the last 12 months | ||
Once in the last 12 months | ||
Don’t know |
Cultural attendance/participation – reduced format/answer grid questions
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
In the last 12 months, how often have you personally watched/participated in any type of cultural activities out of the home such as theatre, cinema, music and going to exhibition (e.g., art, sculpture, dance, etc) | At least once a week | No direct comparator but could look at Scottish Household Survey culture questions and put this in context. |
Less often than once a week but at least once a month | ||
Less often than once a month but at least 3-4 times a year | ||
Twice in the last 12 months | ||
Once in the last 12 months | ||
Don’t know |
Perceptions of my local area
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
People in my local area would lose something of value if the area lost its arts and cultural activities | Strongly agree | Creative Scotland Omnibus Survey, question by 56˚Degree Insight |
Slightly agree | ||
Neither agree nor disagree | ||
Slightly disagree | ||
Strongly disagree | ||
Don’t know |
Question | Answer Options | National comparative source |
My local area is a creative place | Strongly agree | Creative Scotland Omnibus Survey, question by 56˚Degree Insight |
Slightly agree | ||
Neither agree nor disagree | ||
Slightly disagree | ||
Strongly disagree | ||
Don’t know |
Tamsin Cox, Head of Policy and Research
19th January 2023
www.dhacommunications.co.uk