Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.BackgroundThe British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage. Since 2020 BSA has operated with a push-to-web design, with telephone opt-in to cover the offline population.The latest BSA 2022 reports are available from the NatCen BSA website. Main Topics:Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports. In 2022 the questionnaire included the following topics: Household Composition, Employment, Politics, Benefits and Income, National Identity and Ethnicity, Religion, Disability, Education, Changing Identities, Women in Work, Impact of Women's Work on Families, Gender and Chores Distribution in the Household, Marriages, Families and Sexual Relationships, Role of the Government, Nuclear Defence, Nuclear Power and the Environment, Housing, Work and Health, Digital, Pensions and Retirement, Poverty, Fraud and Error, Sexual Relationships, Parental Leave, Disability, Mental Health and the Workplace, Social Mobility, Social Class, Satisfaction with Health and Care Services, Health and Care Spending, NHS Priorities and Principles, Emergency Care and Treatment Plans, and Attitudes to Breastfeeding.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

BSA 2020

In 2020 the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic meant that the traditional face-to-face fieldwork was not feasible. In order to continue to deliver the survey and capture key attitudinal data during the pandemic, the 2020 BSA was transitioned to operate with a push-to-web design, with telephone opt-in to cover the offline population.

The BSA 2020 report, including Key Findings, is available from the NatCen BSA website.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.BackgroundThe British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage. Main Topics:Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports. The 1984 survey includes an expanded section on women's issues, particularly in the relationship between domestic work and paid employment. The questions replicate some items from the 1980 Women and Employment survey (Department of Employment and O.P.C.S.) (SN:1746). Multi-stage stratified random sample See documentation for each BSA year for full details. 1984 ABORTION AGE AID AIR POLLUTION AIR TRAFFIC NOISE ALLIANCE LIBERAL SD... ARMED FORCES ASSAULT ATTITUDE CHANGE ATTITUDES BANKS BROADCASTING BUSINESSES CARE OF DEPENDANTS CHILD BENEFITS CHILD CARE CHILDREN CIVIL DISTURBANCES CIVIL SERVICE CLASS DIFFERENTIATION CONDITIONS OF EMPLO... CONSERVATIVE PARTY ... CORRUPTION COST OF LIVING CURRENCY DEVALUATION CURRICULUM DEATH PENALTY DECENTRALIZED GOVER... DEFENCE DENTAL TREATMENT DISABLED PERSONS DISARMAMENT DIVORCE DOMESTIC RESPONSIBI... ECONOMIC ACTIVITY EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL ADMINIS... EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND EDUCATIONAL INSTITU... EDUCATIONAL POLICY EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS ELDERLY EMPLOYEES EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT HISTORY EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUN... EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMMES ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRA... EQUAL EDUCATION EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EQUAL PAY EQUALITY BETWEEN TH... ETHNIC GROUPS EUROPEAN ECONOMIC C... EUROPEAN UNION EUTHANASIA FAMILY ROLES FINANCIAL EXPECTATIONS FINANCIAL SUPPORT FORECASTING FOREIGN RELATIONS FRAUD FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT GENDER GENERAL PRACTITIONERS HEALTH SERVICES HOME OWNERSHIP HOMOSEXUALITY HOURS OF WORK HOUSEHOLDS HOUSEWORK HOUSING HOUSING FINANCE HOUSING TENURE IMMIGRATION IMPORT CONTROLS INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION INDUSTRIES INFIDELITY INFLATION INFORMAL ECONOMY INNOVATION INTERNATIONAL RELAT... JOB CHANGING JOB DESCRIPTION JOB HUNTING JOB SATISFACTION LABOUR MOBILITY LABOUR PARTY GREAT ... LABOUR RELATIONS LAW LAW ENFORCEMENT LAWFUL OPPOSITION LEGISLATION LOCAL GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT MARITAL STATUS MARRIED WOMEN WORKERS MASS MEDIA MEDICAL CARE MEDICAL INSURANCE MEMBERSHIP MIXED MARRIAGES MORAL CONCEPTS NATIONALIZATION NATO NEWS ITEMS NEWSPAPER READERSHIP NUCLEAR BASES NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS NUCLEAR REACTOR SAFETY NUCLEAR WARFARE NUCLEAR WEAPONS OCCUPATIONAL PENSIONS OCCUPATIONAL QUALIF... OCCUPATIONS PART TIME EMPLOYMENT PARTICIPATION PERFORMANCE POLICE CORRUPTION POLICE SERVICES POLITICAL ALLEGIANCE POLITICAL CORRUPTION POLITICAL POWER PREMARITAL SEX PRESS PRICE CONTROL PRISON SYSTEM PRIVATE EDUCATION PRIVATE SCHOOLS PRIVATE SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY PUBLIC ENTERPRISES PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC TRANSPORT QUALIFICATIONS RACIAL DISCRIMINATION RACIAL PREJUDICE RADIOACTIVE WASTES RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION RELIGIOUS ATTENDANCE RENTED ACCOMMODATION RETIREMENT RETRAINING ROADS SATISFACTION SECONDARY EDUCATION SECONDARY SCHOOLS SELF EMPLOYED SEX DISCRIMINATION SICK PERSONS SOCIAL ATTITUDES SOCIAL CHANGE SOCIAL CLASS SOCIAL ORIGIN SOCIAL POLICY SOCIAL SECURITY SOCIAL SECURITY BEN... SOCIAL WELFARE SPOUSE S ECONOMIC A... SPOUSE S EMPLOYMENT SPOUSE S OCCUPATION SPOUSES STANDARD OF LIVING STATE AID STATE CONTROL STATE RETIREMENT PE... STUDENTS SUBSIDIARY EMPLOYMENT SUBSIDIES SUPERVISORS Social behaviour an... Social conditions a... TAXATION TELEPHONES TERMINATION OF SERVICE TERRORISM TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP TRADE UNION OFFICIALS TRADE UNIONS TRAFFIC NOISE UNEMPLOYED UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS WAGE INCREASES WAGES WAGES POLICY WASTES WATER POLLUTION WOMEN S EMPLOYMENT WOMEN S RIGHTS WORK ATTITUDE WORKING CONDITIONS WORKING WOMEN WORLD WAR

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
In the 1983-1986 Panel Study the design of the panel and cross-section questionnaires was similar, but not identical, although where the same question was asked on both surveys, it was asked in an identical form. In 1983-1984 and 1985 a self-completion questionnaire was also asked. In 1986 the panel questionnaire was considerably shortened and no self-completion element was included.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
The BSA 2016 questionnaires included modules covering: attitudes to public spending, social welfare, politics, health, housing, education, trades unions, official statistics the European Union, transport, retirement, pensions, incomes and attitudes to transgender people.

In 2016, the ISSP module was Role of Government.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
The BSA 2007 questionnaires included modules covering: attitudes to health, social welfare, transport, constitution and devolution, education, respect and emotional support. Version A of the self-completion questionnaire included a module of questions about leisure time and sports, which were fielded as part of the ISSP.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
In the 1999 survey, information was collected on a number of social issues including the following: political attitudes, housing, public spending, welfare, health care, labour market issues, English national identity, begging, education, the countryside, transport, and taste and decency in film and television. Demographic data were also collected. The topic of the ISSP element of the BSA questionnaire was social inequality.

Standard Measures
The questionnaires contain three scales developed by researchers involved in the British Social Attitudes survey series and the British Election Study (BES) series. These are: 'libertarian/authoritarian'; 'left/right'; and 'welfarist '. For details see the Technical Report on the 1999 BSA survey.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
In the 2001 survey, information was collected on a number of social issues including the following: political attitudes, public spending and welfare, health care, understanding of public policy, labour market issues, health and safety in the workplace, national identity, education, drugs, and transport, Demographic data were were also collected. The topic of the ISSP module was social networks.
Standard Measures
The questionnaires contain three scales developed by researchers involved in the British Social Attitudes survey series and the British Election Study (BES) series. These are: 'libertarian/authoritarian'; 'left/right'; and 'welfarist'. For details see the forthcoming Technical Report on the 2001 BSA survey.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

The 1983-1989 collection allows exploitation of a major design feature of the series: the monitoring of trends and the assessment of the relative rates at which different sorts of attitudes evolve. The collection holds the raw data from each survey, an SPSS/PC setup file which describes these raw data for SPSS, the frequency distributions for every variable in the survey, a codebook for each file, an SPSS export file for each year and a Key Word In Context (KWIC) index of all the variable names and labels over all files. The KWIC index will help identify recurring questions for trend analyses.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
The BSA 2012 questionnaires included modules covering: attitudes to public spending, social welfare, transport, health, disability, education, child maintenance, end of life care, and politics.

In 2012, the ISSP module was Family, Work and Gender Roles, carried on version A of the BSA self-completion questionnaire (Questions 1a-33).

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

The BSA 2017 report, including Key Findings, is available from on the NatCen BSA website:

Phillips, D., Curtice, J., Phillips, M. and Perry, J. (ed.) (2018), British Social Attitudes: The 35th Report, London: The National Centre for Social Research.

Latest edition information
For the second edition (February 2021) four equivalised income variables have been added to the dataset.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
In 2017 the survey covered the following: Political party identification, European Union & political issues, newspaper readership, social security and welfare, health, health services, housing, Housing Associations, education, gender equality, transport, work, Brexit and impact of Brexit, income, employment and pensions, disability, social networks (as part of the International Social Survey Programme).

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

The BSA 2018 report, including Key Findings, is available from on the NatCen BSA website:

Curtice, J., Clery, E., Perry, J., Phillips M. and Rahim, N. (eds.) (2019),
https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/latest-report/british-social-attitudes-36/key-findings.aspx">British Social Attitudes: The 36th Report, London: The National Centre for Social Research

Latest edition information
For the second edition (February 2021) four equivalised income variables have been added to the dataset.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Latest Edition Information
For the third edition (April 2017) data from the Public Health England modules on Alcohol, Dementia, Mental Health and Obesity from the self-completion questionnaires have been added to the dataset, following the publication of reports based on them. In addition, three variables have been replaced with new versions: BNationU (previously unpopulated); TVNews and WebNews (for both, a minor amendment to one value label only).


Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
The BSA 2015 questionnaires included modules covering: attitudes to public spending, social welfare, politics, health, social class, the European Union, transport, food, alcohol, mental wellbeing, obesity, dementia and retirement and pensions.

In 2015, the ISSP module was Work Orientations.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series began in 1983. The series is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and the data on party political attitudes produced by opinion polls. One of the BSA's main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. Some questions are asked regularly, others less often. Funding for BSA comes from a number of sources (including government departments, the Economic and Social Research Council and other research foundations), but the final responsibility for the coverage and wording of the annual questionnaires rests with NatCen Social Research (formerly Social and Community Planning Research). The BSA has been conducted every year since 1983, except in 1988 and 1992 when core funding was devoted to the British Election Study (BES).

Further information about the series and links to publications may be found on the NatCen Social Research British Social Attitudes webpage.

Main Topics:
Each year, the BSA interview questionnaire contains a number of 'core' questions, which are repeated in most years. In addition, a wide range of background and classificatory questions is included. The remainder of the questionnaire is devoted to a series of questions (modules) on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues - some are asked regularly, others less often. Cross-indexes of those questions asked more than once appear in the reports.
In the 1996 survey, information was collected on number of social issues including the following: political attitudes, housing, public spending, welfare, health care, labour market issues, the National Lottery, social divisions, political trust, Northern Ireland, taste and decency in the media, the countryside, transport, public understanding of science, education, local authority spending and charitable giving. Demographic data were also collected.
Standard Measures
The questionnaires contain three scales developed by researchers involved in the British Social Attitudes survey series and the British Election Study (BES) series. These are: libertarian/authoritarian';left/right'; and `welfarist'. For details see the Technical Report on the 1996 BSA survey.

For the second edition of this study (December 1999), two variables were corrected: the variables affected are LIBAUTHB and LFTRIGHB. These are the scale scores for the 'balanced' or 'BES-version' of the Left-Right and Libertarian-Authoritarian scales (see also SN:3890, British General Election Study, 1997 : Campaign Panel). For further details please see note and read file documentation for this study.