• 1 | Devolution and attitudes to government
• 2 | Families
• 3 | The NHS
• 4 | National identity
• 5 | Older people, pensions and care
• 6 | Public services
• 7 | Social identities

SSA 2005 continued a long-running series of questions (funded by the Scottish Executive/Government since 2004) on public attitudes to government. These explore issues including political trust and what impact devolution is seen as having on Scotland’s voice in the UK. The 2005 findings are available online in a series of reports for the Scottish Executive.

The Centre for Research on Families and Relationships in collaboration with ScotCen developed questions to explore the attitudes of people of childbearing age to having children (or not). Funded by the ESRC and the Scottish Government, you can read more about the findings here.

Satisfaction with the NHS and its constituent parts, beliefs about acceptable waiting times and attitudes to choice over treatment and services were explored in both the Scottish and British Social Attitudes surveys in 2005. Read about differences in attitudes to the NHS in England and Scotland in a ScotCenCen research findings, or in an article by the researchers for Scottish Affairs.

Questions on attitudes to national identity across the UK have been included regularly on both SSA and the British Social Attitudes survey (BSA). The 2005 survey explored what difference ethnicity, accent and place of birth make to whether people accept claims of 'Scottishness'. For more detailed information on the 2005 findings, please contact David McCrone (d.mccrone@ed.ac.uk) or Frank Bechhofer (f.bechhofer@ed.ac.uk) at Edinburgh University.

Questions about who should pay for and provide pensions and care for older people have been the subject of much debate in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK. SSA 2005, with funding from the Nuffield Foundation, explored public attitudes towards the roles and responsibilities of the state, other family members and individuals themselves in meeting the costs associated with old age and retirement. The findings are summarised in a ScotCen Research Findings paper and discussed in more detail in a chapter in the 23rd British Social Attitudes Report.

Questions on attitudes to standards in the NHS, transport, education and other key public services have been included regularly on SSA, with funding from the Scottish Executive since 2004. Findings from 2005 are available online in a report and summary for the Scottish Government.

Alongside questions on national identity, SSA 2005 also explored which other 'identities' - like class, parenthood, and religion - people consider important when they think of themselves. Questions on national and social identities were funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. For more information, contact the research team by emailing ssa@scotcen.org.uk.