About this series

The Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) series of surveys is a leading source of independent, high quality survey data on changing public attitudes.

Like its sister series, British Social Attitudes, SSA provides authoritative data on a range of social, moral and political attitudes. It has tracked the views of people in Scotland since 1999. Every year, around 1,500 people are interviewed on a range of topics. You can:

Understanding what Scotland thinks
SSA is not an opinion poll. Polls typically take the 'pulse' of the public at frequent intervals, asking a small number of questions about the ‘buzz’ issues of the day.

Scottish Social Attitudes, in contrast, explores subjects in much greater depth, focusing in particular on how the public’s views have changed over time. The study is funded by a range of charitable and government sources.

You can find out about the topics covered each year or information about particular years of the study.

Policy impact

As an impartial, reliable source of information on public attitudes, SSA is a vital resource for policy makers, academics, the media, charities and others who want to understand what people in Scotland really think.

Findings from the study inform policies aimed at changing or challenging attitudes, as well as policies that seek to change behaviours that may stem from these attitudes.

Accessing the data

Scottish Social Attitudes survey data is deposited at the Data Archive each year, around a year after fieldwork is completed. It is available from the Data Archive to academics and others who wish to use it for further analysis.