Official Statistics

Community Life Survey 2021/22: Annex A - Terms and definitions

Updated 3 May 2023

Applies to England

This section contains details of the terms and definitions used in the Community Life Survey 2021/22.

1. Running the survey

The Community Life Survey (CLS) is commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The fieldwork is conducted by Kantar Public UK. It is an annual household survey, conducted via self-completion questionnaire

This release is based on self-completed questionnaires conducted either online or using paper questionnaires. The survey was completed between October 2021 and September 2022. The total sample size for the 2021/22 period was 10,126. Sample sizes for each breakdown can be found in the accompanying tables. All households sampled were invited to complete the survey online with the option to request a paper version. A targeted sample was sent two paper questionnaires in their second reminder letter to encourage responses from those at risk of digital exclusion, and a third reminder stage was introduced for a targeted subsample of addresses, mainly in deprived areas or where a younger-than-average household structure was expected. In 2021/22 1,783 people (18%) completed the paper version of the questionnaire and 8,343 (82%) completed the survey online. Due to space limitations in the paper questionnaire, not all questions from the online survey are included in the paper version and the source of each survey measure is referenced in the accompanying charts and tables. Some of the fieldwork for 2021/22 (notably the first quarter) took place during the COVID-19 pandemic however the survey mode was not seemingly impacted by this.

2. Data and quality assurance

Stringent quality assurance procedures have been adopted for this statistical release. All data and analysis has been checked and verified by at least two different members of the DCMS analytical team to ensure the highest level of quality. Descriptive statistics have been calculated using complex samples analysis. Upper and lower estimates may vary slightly from analysis using other methodology or different software packages (SPSS was used for the published data and analysis).

3. Comparing estimates

The upper and lower estimates presented in this report and in the accompanying tables have been calculated using a 95% confidence interval. This means that had the sample been drawn 100 times, creating 100 confidence intervals, then 95 of these intervals would contain the true value. When the sample size is smaller, as is the case for certain groups, the confidence intervals are wider as we can be less certain that the individuals in the sample are representative of the population. This means that it is more difficult to draw inferences from the results.

Statistical significance: Differences between groups are only reported on in this publication where they are statistically significant, i.e. where we can be confident that the differences seen in our sampled respondents are reflective of the population. A significant difference at the 95% level means we can be confident that if we carried out the same survey on different random samples of the population, 95 times out of 100 we would get similar findings. Where confidence intervals (to 1 decimal place) do not overlap, we consider this a significant difference.

4. Demographics

Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) Quintile: The Index of Multiple Deprivation, commonly known as the IMD, is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in England. This is calculated using several measures such as income deprivation, crime and living environment deprivation. The Index of Multiple Deprivation ranks every small area in England from 1 (most deprived area) to 32,844 (least deprived area). In this publication, we have clustered these areas into ‘IMD Quintiles’ with 1 being the most deprived areas and 5 being the least deprived areas.

Limiting long-term illness or disability: In this report, respondents are classified as having a limiting long-term illness or disability if they have any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting, or which are expected to last for 12 months or more and their condition and/or illness reduces their ability to carry out day to day activities. This information is only available for those who completed the online version of the survey. This definition is consistent with the GSS harmonised definition.

5. Relevant research and statistics

Information about volunteering had historically been collected in DCMS’s Taking Part survey. This asked about volunteering in a different way to CLS so estimates did vary. CLS was used for headline measures of volunteering, while Taking Part could be used to understand volunteering in the DCMS sectors. More information can be found on the Taking Part statistical release page. From October 2021, the Taking Part survey was replaced with the Participation Survey, a social survey measuring engagement in DCMS sectors for adults in England. Questions on whether an adult engaged in cultural activities and events as a volunteer was included. Further information can be found on the Participation Survey webpages.

The responsible analyst for this release is Olivia Cossey. For enquiries on this release, please contact [email protected]