Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.BackgroundThe British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.
Some of the questions from the 2003 survey, on Muslim people living in Scotland, also formed part of a further mixed methods study, the Scottish Minorities Survey, 2003-2004, which is held at the UKDA under SN 5344. As the data are not reproduced in the other study, users of 5344 are advised to order the 2003 BSA and the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, 2003 (held under SN 5076).
Main Topics:Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
In 2003, there were three versions of the questionnaire. Versions A and B were each asked of a quarter of the sample, and version C of half the sample. Modules may be asked on one, two or three versions of the questionnaire (thus giving different sample sizes). The 2003 questionnaire covered: public spending and social welfare, internet and e-society, charitable giving, education policy, health care, politics and national identity, employment relations, transport policy, prejudice and morality, genomics and immigration. In addition, one module allows cross-national comparisons as part of the International Social Survey Programme. The 2003 ISSP module was on the topic of national identity and was fielded on the self-completion part of the questionnaire. Standard Measures The questionnaires contain three scales developed by researchers involved in the British Social Attitudes survey series and the British Election Study (BES) series. These are: 'libertarian/authoritarian'; 'left/right'; and 'welfarist'.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
See documentation for each BSA year for full details.
