e-Digest Statistics about: Public Attitudes and Behaviours toward the Environment
Survey of Public Attitudes and Behaviours toward the Environment: 2007
The 2007 survey establishes a representative picture of what people in England think and how they behave across a range of issues relevant to the environment.
Introduction:
The results presented here follow from previous Environmental surveys run by Defra and its predecessors in 1986, 1989, 1993, 1996-7 and 2001. Where questions are comparable, time series are shown from the three most recent of these.
The results for the 2007 survey were produced from data collected from a representative sample of 3,618 individuals in England during spring 2007. The sample was similar in size to the 2001 survey. The survey was supplemented by a further omnibus survey of 1,618 individuals to allow additional questions to be asked. The data were collected using computer assisted interviews lasting on average 51 minutes. The survey was administered and analysed on behalf of Defra by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB).
Headline results
Headline results from a selection of the survey questions were released on 27th July 2007 (covering wellbeing) and 14th August 2007 (covering attitudes, behaviour and wellbeing):
2007 Headline statistical report on attitudes, behaviour and wellbeing (PDF 550kb)
2007 Headline data tables on attitudes and behaviour (Excel workbook 150kb)
2007 Headline statistical report on wellbeing (Statistics release 233/07)
Some selected results are comparable with the previous surveys and provide trends in certain behaviours and attitudes such as the proportion of people who say they regularly recycle various materials. However, the majority of questions are new for the 2007 survey which has been improved and re-focused so that it is relevant to today's policy agenda.
Full report
A full report containing all the results from the survey has been completed by BMRB in conjunction with Defra statisticians, and was released on 2nd November 2007. The full report can be seen here:
Full report (PDF 560kb over 200 pages)
Questionnaire (PDF 280kb, 39 pages)
Data tables (PDF 2200kb, 852 pages)
The data tables have been divided into sections:
List of contents (PDF, 17 pages)
Section A: Household and respondent characteristics
Wellbeing and TGI Life Values (for Fusion) (PDF, 89 pages)
Section B: Travel behaviour (PDF, 162 pages)
Section C: Energy and water efficiency in the home (PDF, 172 pages)
Section E: Recycling, composting and reducing waste (PDF, 24 pages)
Section F: Purchasing (PDF, 86 pages)
Section G: Awareness and attitudes in relation to the environment/climate change (PDF, 218 pages)
Section H: Further household and respondent characteristics (PDF, 84 pages)
Omnibus Survey Questionnaire (PDF 70kb)
Omnibus tables of responses (PDF 350kb, 93 pages) (covering Green spaces, Animal welfare, Biodiversity, Wellbeing)
Anonymised raw data has been placed in the UK Data Archive under reference SN5741
References, further reading and links to other resources:
2001 survey
A PDF version is available from this link (785kb) The PDF version includes all text, graphics, annexes and data. Colour, A4 format, 154 pages.
Download summarised data in Archive (ZIP 410kb)
1996/7 survey
For reference the summary from the 1996/7 survey is provided in PDF format. Survey of Public Attitudes to the Environment for England & Wales: 1996/97 (130kb)
The summary data for 1996/7 survey is available in MS Excel files from this zip archive (96kb).
UK Data Archive (UKDA) holds the data collected during the surveys:
- SN 4741 -Survey of Public Attitudes to Quality of Life and the Environment, 2001
- SN 3329 Survey of Public Attitudes to the Environment, 1993
- SN 2685 Survey of Public Attitudes to the Environment, 1989
- SN 2684 Survey of Public Attitudes to the Environment, 1986
The UK Data Archive (UKDA) provides resource discovery and support for secondary use of quantitative and qualitative data in research, teaching and learning as a lead partner of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS).
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Page last modified: 2 November 2007
Page published: 2 November 2007