Have you been asked to take part in a survey?

If you have received a letter asking you to take part in a survey, thank you for taking the time to visit us. We have provided further information here about why we need your help, how the survey information is used and how we picked your address. You will also find more information about Central Survey Unit and further details about our surveys in other sections of the site.

If you would like any more details please give us a call. The name and number of the relevant person to call can be found in the contacts section. 

Why do we need your help?

Your contribution is vital to the success of the survey. By taking part you can help us to provide an accurate picture of how changes in society, government policy, services and the economy affect you.

For example, accurate information is regularly needed to help plan future public services and to evaluate how well current public services meet the needs of the population. The information needed can relate to a wide range of areas such as health, housing, education, cost of fuel, child care, cost of living, lifestyles, etc.

It is also very important that we talk to a wide cross-section of people in all age groups if we are to ensure the survey results accurately reflect the circumstances of the population when policy decisions are being made. For example, it is important that the circumstances of the elderly, young families, single parents, those in or out of work, people with health difficulties, the disabled, etc are included in our surveys.  Without this information, the circumstances of people in these groups may not be fully taken into account in the development and evaluation of public services or policy.

Why was I selected?

As it is not possible to interview everyone in Northern Ireland a sample of addresses is selected at random to represent all of Northern Ireland. This approach provides a representative sample of households in Northern Ireland and gives every private household in Northern Ireland an equal chance of being selected for one of our surveys.

We cannot substitute another address for yours, as this would affect the whole sample´s representativeness. We would therefore really appreciate it if you could help us with this survey.

How was my address chosen?

Your address was selected at random from the Land and Property Services Agency´s list of domestic properties in Northern Ireland. 

What happens to the information I provide?

Central Survey Unit places great emphasis on confidentiality and goes to considerable lengths to guarantee such confidentiality.

Any information given to an interviewer is strictly confidential and Central Survey Unit will not release any identifiable information about you or your household to any government department, or anyone else, under any circumstances.

The facts and figures collected by Central Survey Unit are used only for statistical purposes and are not released in a way that would allow any individual or household to be identified.  An example of how we release statistical information can be seen by looking at some examples of the survey results or publications that are published here.

To further ensure confidentiality, no individual household is ever separately identified or examined. Address details are also only used to select a household for interview and are not recorded along with the interview details.