Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies, 2009

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>The aim of the <i>Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies, 2009</i> (SSAL2009) was to update existing data on working age (16-65 year old) adults’ literacies skills, and to provide a new baseline estimate of the general population’s levels of literacies skills in Scotland. This included an assessment of skills on three literacies scales; prose, document and quantitative literacy. The aim of the survey also included exploring patterns of literacies skills and analysing these skills in relation to respondents’ social backgrounds. The sampling strategy ensures a high degree of representativeness and allows in-depth discussion of issues such as gender, social class, urbanisation and work.<br>
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SSAL2009 is based on the <i>International Adult Literacy Survey</i> (IALS) carried out in 1996 as part of an international programme of surveys. The Great British part of this survey is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 3791 - <i> Adult Literacy in Britain, 1996</i>.<br><br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>The dataset contains a wide variety of social background data, including gender, age, languages spoken, educational background, highest qualification, employment status, length of unemployment, type of jobs/sectors people are employed in, training people have undertaken the last year, health/disability, benefits, income levels, regions where people live (urban/rural), and level of deprivation (using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)). <br>
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The dataset also contains the results from the literacies assessment in prose, document and quantitative literacy using Item Response Theory (ITR) modelling and plausible values.<br>
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In terms of plausible values these are estimates of a potential value for each individual’s ability. There are 5 of them. The plausible values give proficiency estimates on a scale between 0 and 500, and are included in the data set. These are essential in understanding and analysing the literacies levels of adults in Scotland. The plausible values relate to IALS levels as follows:<br>
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Level 1: 0 to 225 <br>
Level 2: 226 to 275<br>
Level 3: 276 to 325<br>
Level 4: 326 to 375<br>
Level 5: 376 to 500.