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About ScotCen

ScotCen Social Research

Did you know?

In the child cohort 84% of children had watched TV every day in the last week; 3% had not watched any television.

from : Growing up in Scotland

Scottish Centre for Social Research

By helping us to understand the problems and challenges society faces, social research can help make life better. ScotCen is a not-for-profit organisation registered as a charity. Based in Edinburgh, we carry out research across the whole of Scotland in a wide range of policy areas (including health, education and crime).

Resources and expertise

ScotCen is an integral part of NatCen Social Research, Britain's leading independent social research institute. ScotCen's team of 18 researchers based in Edinburgh combines methodological expertise with an in-depth knowledge of the Scottish policy context. We are also able to draw on the substantive expertise of colleagues in NatCen's policy-focused Teams in London and the methodological skills and capacity of our Fieldwork Operations Centre in Brentwood. Our large-scale surveys are conducted by our team of over 130 survey interviewers based across Scotland.

Methodological rigour

As an integral part of NatCen, ScotCen shares its commitment to methodological rigour and innovation. We have built our reputation on the quality of our research. Whether working on large-scale surveys, small scale qualitative studies or mixed method evaluations, we are committed to producing findings that are robust and reliable.

Insight and learning

Our remit is to improve society through high quality social research. We aim to share our expertise and knowledge as widely as possible. We offer courses and bespoke training through NatCen Learning and are also involved in delivering the Survey Skills programme in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Of interest: