Glossary « Scotland's Census: Shaping Our Future

Glossary

A - B C - D E - F G - H I - L M - N O - Q R - T U - Z

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Accessibility standards
As part of its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published a set of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), along with a checklist for evaluating website compliance and this has become the accepted international standard. This web site has been designed to comply with web accessibility standards including XHTML v1.0, CSS 2.0. and WAI Priority 2.

Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils are provided with meals and lodging.

British Sign Language (BSL)
British Sign Language (BSL) is the most common form of signed communication used by deaf people in Scotland.

Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house. Common features include being detached or semi-detached and low-rise (single or one-and-a-half storey).

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Census
A census is the procedure of gathering and recording information about the members of a population. Scotland’s Census is the official count of every person and household which takes place once every ten years.

The information collected paints a picture of local communities and nationwide trends. Census statistics are vital to help to plan for the future - in making decisions about the transport we need, the housing, schools and local services, and in helping to allocate funding for these national and local services. The census is run by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) which produces a wide range of regular, high quality, professional statistics.

Census Coverage Survey (CCS)
The Census Coverage Survey (CCS) collects information to estimate the numbers and characteristics of people not counted by the census.

Census declaration
The declaration is a statement that confirms you have filled in your questionnaire fully and accurately, as far as you know.

Census Quality Survey (CQS)
The CQS is a follow-up survey conducted in selected households who have completed the census questionnaire. It allows us to measure the accuracy of the census responses.

Census taker (enumerator)
A member of the census field staff, responsible for delivering and collecting census questionnaires.

Central heating
Central heating is a central system that generates heat for multiple rooms.

Civil partnership
A civil partnership is a legal relationship, which has been registered by two people of the same sex. It enables same-sex couples to obtain legal recognition of their relationship and gives them similar rights and responsibilities to a marriage. Couples who form a civil partnership have a new legal status, that of 'civil partner'.

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force on 5 December 2005.

Coding
Coding, in census terms, involves allocating codes to each answer to make it easier for statisticians to analyse.

Coverage adjustment
Coverage adjustment is the process of combining the results of the census and information gathered via a follow up survey (the Census Coverage Survey) to make a reliable estimate of those not counted in the main census. This allows a highly precise estimate of the total resident population to be made. This approach is internationally recognised.

Data capture
Data capture is the electronic process of scanning each census questionnaire to capture (record) the information on it.

Day-to-day activities
Day-to-day activities are everyday things, for example eating, washing, walking and going shopping.

Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human populations.

Depot
A depot is a place where employed people report to if they have no fixed workplace, for example people who work in transport.

Deprivation
People are deprived if they lack the financial resources to provide the types of diet, clothing, housing, household facilities and fuel, and environmental, educational, working and social conditions, activities and facilities which are customary in the societies to which they belong.

Downstream processing
The statistical processes that follow data capture and coding, including anonymising the census data and making adjustments for any errors or gaps in it.

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Edit and imputation
The repair of gaps or inconsistencies in census data, based upon common characteristics of other respondents, to ensure a complete and consistent dataset.

Electronic Contact Facility
This is a way to contact the helpline staff. You can use the Electronic Contact facility to:
• request a census questionnaire
• request a visit from a member of our field staff

Employee
An employee is a person who is hired to work for an individual or company in return for payment.

Enumerator (census taker)
A member of the census field staff, responsible for delivering and collecting census questionnaires.

Foreign qualifications
Foreign qualifications are qualifications that have been obtained outside the UK. These qualifications could be academic, professional or vocational.

Four-in-a-block (4-in-a-block)
A 4-in-a-block building is one which contains four homes, two upper and two lower homes, each with their own external door. They also usually have a shared roof with no external division between the properties.

Freelance
A freelance worker is someone who is self-employed that works for different companies on particular pieces of work.

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Household
A household is:
• one person living alone; or
• a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area.

Household Questionnaire
The census household questionnaire is delivered to every household in Scotland. It asks about that household and each of the individuals in it.

The Household Questionnaire contains 13 questions about your household and up to 35 individual questions for each member of the household who usually lives at the address. The Household Questionnaire has 28 pages, eight pages for the household questions and four pages of individual questions for each member of a household consisting of up to five people.

If there are more than five people in your household, either fill in the questionnaire online for your whole household or fill in the paper questionnaire and ask for a Continuation Questionnaire.

Householder or joint householder
The householder or joint householder is the person who lives, or is present, at the address who:
• owns/rents (or jointly owns/rents) the accommodation; and/or
• is responsible (or jointly responsible) for paying the household bills and expenses.

Housing Association
A housing association is a non-profit organisation that manages and lets rental properties.

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Individual Questionnaire
Individual Questionnaires are provided to people who either:

do not live in a household - people who are staying, or are expected to stay, in a residential establishment such as a care home, student halls or prison, for six months or more;

or

live in a household but do not want to reveal their information to others in the household.

The Individual Questionnaire contains the same questions that are asked of people filling in the Household Questionnaire.

Internet Questionnaire Access Code (IQAC)
An Internet Questionnaire Access Code is a 16 digit code that is printed on the front page of every pre-addressed Household Questionnaire. It is needed to access the online questionnaire.

Landlord
A person or organisation who leases accommodation to others.

Letting Agency
A letting agency is a company that matches landlords who have properties that are empty to tenants who want to live in a property.

Listing form
The listing form is used to help the person in charge of a residential establishment to keep a record of questionnaires issued and collected.

Local Authority
A local authority is the administrative unit of local government. There are 32 local authorities in Scotland.

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Main job
The job in which a person usually works the most hours per week.

Maisonette
A maisonette is a flat that usually has a separate door to the outside from other flats in the same building. Many maisonettes are on two floors.

National identity
National identity is a feeling of attachment to a nation irrespective of your ethnic group or legal nationality (citizenship).

NHS
The National Health Service in the UK.

Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
Northern Ireland's census is run by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

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Office for National Statistics (ONS)
ONS is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to Parliament. ONS is the UK Government's single largest statistical producer.
The census in England and Wales is run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Outputs
The statistics produced from the census are referred to as outputs. Outputs are presented in a variety of formats such as tables, graphs and charts and are available in electronic and paper formats. The results can be compared across different areas of Scotland, with other parts of the UK and also to previous censuses.

Post-graduate study
Any course of academic study higher than a Bachelor degree.

Processing
The act of taking the information provided on paper and from online questionnaires through an established set of procedures to produce the census results for publication.

Public services
Public services is the term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by providing money to the private sector.

Qualifications
Qualifications are records of achievement awarded on the successful completion of a course of training or passing an examination.

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Registrar General for Scotland
The Registrar General for Scotland is the government official responsible for the census and the registration of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland. The current Registrar General for Scotland is Duncan Macniven. He heads the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS).

Reminder card
Reminder cards are sent to people whose census return has yet to be received by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS).

Scots
The Scots Language Centre defines Scots as the collective name for Scottish dialects known also as 'Doric', 'Lallans' and 'Scotch' or by more local names for example 'Buchan', 'Dundonian', 'Glesca' or 'Shetland'.

Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language, descended from Old Irish, which is one of the national languages of Scotland. It is also commonly known as Scots Gaelic or Gáidhlig.

Scottish Government
The Scottish Government is the law making body for devolved matters.

Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national legislature of Scotland.

Self-employed
Self-employed means someone who owns and operates their own business or professional practice, sometimes with a partner.

Sheltered accommodation
Sheltered accommodation is usually regarded as a residential establishment where the manager is responsible for making sure that census questionnaires are filled in by the people who live there. However, if half or more of the residents have their own cooking facilities then each unit is treated as a separate household.

Snapshot
The census is a ‘snapshot’ of Scotland as it gathers population details at a particular point in time (27 March 2011).

Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN)
If a vehicle isn't taxed and is kept off the road it must be declared on a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

Statistics
Statistics is a numerical discipline which involves collecting, organising, analysing, interpreting and presenting data.

Statistical disclosure control
Statistical disclosure control is a process which safeguards the confidentiality of information about people, by making sure that no information which can be attributed to an individual or household is disclosed in any statistics or publications.

Student
A student is any individual enrolled on a course or programme of study in an educational institution.

Term-time
Term-time is the part of the year when classes, lectures or exams are held in schools, colleges and universities.

Textphone
A textphone is similar to a standard telephone and is used by people who have speech or hearing difficulties. It plugs into a telephone socket and has a keyboard that lets people type and read conversations.

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United Kingdom (UK)
The UK is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Usual residence
For most people their usual residence is where they usually live and it is their permanent or family home.

Usually lives
For most people the address at which they usually live is their permanent or family home.

Utility room
A utility room has several uses but is usually an area to do laundry.