Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Scottish census shambles

59 replies

DomesticatedZombie · 28/04/2022 14:44

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/27/snp-abandons-census-deadline-quarter-scots-fail-respond/

'Extending the window for responding raises worrying questions about data quality,” Lindsay Paterson, professor of education policy at the University of Edinburgh, said. “In normal social surveys, there are strict quality controls on the time given to respond. “This is because people vary in how they respond, especially for opinion questions such as the several identity questions in the census. For example, how people answer the question about gender identity might vary according to whether some controversy about gender identity is in the news. The same is true of national identity and ethnic identity.” He added: “As a social statistician, I would not use census data on identity that had such an arbitrarily varying window of replying.”'

OP posts:
SunshineAddict · 28/04/2022 23:36

On ethnicity that was..
I didn't even bother with the gender part.

SunshineAddict · 28/04/2022 23:33

I didn't fit with their little categories.

SunshineAddict · 28/04/2022 23:32

I know the national identity question gets me antsy.

KimikosNightmare · 28/04/2022 23:22

Political questions - not just about trans history and sexual orientation, but also about how you define your nationality. Saying you identify as British and not Scottish is a HUGE political statement in Scotland. People fear being put on a SNP list to be reeducated into thinking properly

My husband filled it in online and I reviewed the answers before he submitted it. He'd decided I was "Scottish". I changed it to British.

I think previous versions gave the option of being "White", then "Scottish" or "other British". I'm sure I filled in the "other" section saying I was "British" not "other British"

I definitely wrote to the Scottish Government to complain about official forms foisting Scottish on me.

FamilyTreeBuilder · 28/04/2022 22:51

It's a combination of factors.

Online - lots of people have had issues with the website not accepting answers, not allowing you to move forward, crashing. People who don't "do" online have struggled to get a paper copy.

Year late - the Scot Gov cancelled doing the census to "keep us all safe" from Covid, show how much better and more caring they are than that nasty bunch of Tories in Westmonster. (Sorry Wales and NI, you don't get a look in, their rhetoric is all about Boris). Because 95% of the UK did their census in 2021, there is not as much buzz around it.

Advertising - they have put ads on telly, radio etc. But the way we watch telly and consume media has changed. Lots of under 30s won't have ever seen their ads on terrestrial TV.

Political questions - not just about trans history and sexual orientation, but also about how you define your nationality. Saying you identify as British and not Scottish is a HUGE political statement in Scotland. People fear being put on a SNP list to be reeducated into thinking properly.

Language - census bumf in English only. Probably available in Gaelic too, they love a bit of Gaelic. 🙄But if you speak Polish, Urdu, Punjabi, Spanish, Xhosa - you're on your own pal.

The whole thing is an utter disaster, has cost £££££ and is just another in a long line of SNP fuck ups.

BettyFilous · 28/04/2022 22:43

Is the low response rate due to shitshow admin on getting paper copies out to households who have opted not to complete online including all the GCs? Or are people not engaging at all? There was a similar article in the Tines but no clear explanation.

Original poster
DomesticatedZombie · 28/04/2022 15:30

pissing massive amounts of tax payer cash up the wall on what's been turned into a virtue signaling exercise.

This is literally the Scottish Gov's entire modus operandi.

OP posts:
Artichokeleaves · 28/04/2022 15:09

Yup. Whole thing pointless.

So either do it properly, or don't bother at all. This is not the time to be pissing massive amounts of tax payer cash up the wall on what's been turned into a virtue signaling exercise.

Thelnebriati · 28/04/2022 14:55

Trans activists unintentionally reaching the point.