National Identity question and answer categories: England, Scotland, & Wales
Country where you are asking the question
Question
Answer categories
England
What do you consider your national identity to be? Please choose your answer from this card. Choose as many or as few as apply.
English
Scottish
Welsh
Irish
British
Other
Scotland
What do you consider your national identity to be? Please choose your answer from this card. Choose as many or as few as apply.
Scottish
English
Welsh
Irish
British
Other
Wales
What do you consider your national identity to be? Please choose your answer from this card. Choose as many or as few as apply.
Welsh
English
Scottish
Irish
British
Other
For all, if someone answers 'Other', you should then ask:
How would you describe your national identity?
This question allows respondents to choose more than one identity if they think of themselves as having more than one. This is because, like ethnicity, national identity is self-defined, i.e. it is something that is subjectively meaningful to the person concerned. You should ask the second part of the question 'How would you describe your national identity?' of those for whom it is relevant, even if these answers are not going to be coded.
Our research on evaluating the national identity question shows that the response is very sensitive to exactly how the question is asked, and this can impact on the results quite considerably. The main limitations with the question are:
Results are affected by the order of the answer categories being presented.
When choosing between a country-specific identity (English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish) versus British, whichever category is listed first (either on a showcard or in a list that is read out by an interviewer) is more likely to be selected.
Results are affected by how the answer categories are presented to respondents (either on a showcard or read out by an interviewer).
Respondents are more likely to select more than one identity if a showcard is used than if an interviewer reads out the answer categories. You should, therefore, use a showcard where possible.
Results may be affected by the context in which the question is asked.
When the question was asked after questions on nationality and British citizenship, respondents were more likely to give a single answer rather than state two identities.
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