SCOTLAND’S PEOPLE AND NATURE SURVEY
Understanding how people in Scotland use, value and enjoy the natural environment
Scotland’s People and Nature Survey (SPANS) is a large-scale quantitative survey launched
in March 2013 to provide information on how people living in Scotland use, value and enjoy
the natural environment. Led by Scottish Natural Heritage, with support from our partners,
Forestry Commission Scotland, the national parks and greenspace scotland, SPANS will run
in 2013 and every three years thereafter for a period of ten years.
SPANS comprises a series of questions inserted in TNS’s monthly consumer omnibus
survey, the Scottish Opinion Survey (SOS). The SOS interviews a representative sample of
around 1,000 adults aged 16 plus living in Scotland each month, providing an annual sample
of more than 12,000 respondents. Some SPANS questions are asked every month but most
are asked less frequently, allowing us to manage the length of the questionnaire and the
survey costs.
The survey uses a non-probability, quota sampling approach. Each month interviews are
conducted in 55 different sampling points, selected to ensure a geographical spread of
Scotland’s adult population. In each sampling point, interviews are undertaken with
interlocking quotas applied on the basis of age, sex, social grade and working status. At the
analysis stage, demographic weighting is applied to correct any variations between the
sample and the Scottish adult population.
The survey is undertaken face to face in the respondent’s home using Computer Assisted
Personal Interviewing (CAPI). Each month’s fieldwork is conducted over a 6 day period,
generally over the last weekend of the month.
In its first year, SPANS will run between March 2013 and February 2014, with an annual
report scheduled for publication in summer 2014. Special interest reports, based on
individual question modules, will be published on the SNH website throughout the survey
year as data become available.