Communities and neighbourhoods

The Communities Study

The Communities Study explores people's views of their local community. Communities and Local Government have commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to carry out this study.

This is the fourth Communities Study. The study has taken place every two years since 2001 across England and Wales, and since 2007 is being run as a continuous survey. The results from the study will help to develop future policy in this area to try to build stronger communities.

Who are National Centre for Social Research?

NatCen is an independent research organisation and registered charity. They have been designing, carrying out and analysing research among members of the public for over 30 years. Further information on NatCen (external link).

Why is the study important?

The issues investigated in the Communities Study include:

How people feel about living in their neighbourhoods
Involvement in the community
Volunteering
How people from different backgrounds in the local area get on with each other
Views on local government and local services
Racial prejudice and discrimination
What values are important in society

These issues are all central to current Government policy.

Information collected in the study is regularly used to inform central government, local government and a wide range of initiatives across the country. The study helps understanding of what issues are most important for different communities in local areas.

As the study has been run in 2001, 2003, 2005, and the 2007 survey is underway, we can see how opinions and attitudes have changed over time.

What are the findings from earlier studies?

Within government, the Communities Study is referred to as the Citizenship Survey. This is for historical reasons as the study was formerly known as the Home Office Citizenship Survey, or HOCS, but it now forms a major part of Communities and Local Government research. Links to recent reports and data can be found using the links on the right hand side of this page.

Why has my household been chosen?

The Communities Study is designed to provide information about how people in England and Wales feel about their local community. To visit every address in England and Wales would take too long and cost too much money. Instead, a sample of addresses is selected and people at those addresses are asked to take part in the study.

Addresses are chosen at random from a list obtained from the Post Office. Interviewers do not know who lives at the address until they visit it.

Once an address has been selected for the study, it cannot be replaced with another address. This means that we rely on the goodwill of those who have been chosen.
Selecting addresses in this way means that the study will represent the views of people in England and Wales as a whole.

We also need to seek extra interviews with people who are Black, Asian, Chinese or from another non-white group. To do this, additional addresses are selected, and interviews are carried out at these addresses, if there are any adults from non-white groups living there. These extra interviews are carried out so that there are enough people in the study from different groups for statistical analysis.

What does participation involve?

If your address has been selected for the Communities Study, you should receive a letter informing you, with a leaflet telling you more about the study. You will then receive a visit from an interviewer. Please note that all NatCen interviewers carry an identity card with a photograph and are registered with the local police while they are working in an area. Please ask to see an identity card if you are unsure about a caller's identity.

The interviewer will ask a few questions about the people who live at the address. They may then select one person aged 16 or over living at the address at random to take part in an interview. Selecting one person in this way helps to ensure that the study is representative of everyone in England and Wales.

The interviewer can only interview the person who has been selected. No-one else in the household can take their place. The success of the study relies on the co-operation of those who are chosen to take part.

The interviewer can make an appointment to carry out the interview at a convenient time for you. The questions cover a number of different topics, asking your opinions about the local community and about any activities in the community you are involved in. It doesn't matter if you aren't involved in the community or don't think you have anything to say - we would like to find out about different types of people in the community. Your views are important to us, as without them we will not have a representative picture of the communities that people in England and Wales live in.

Is the study confidential?

Yes. Any information you give to us will be treated in the strictest confidence, in accordance with the Data Protection Act. Results are only ever presented as statistics, not in a form which could reveal your identity.