Summary information
Study title
Adult Literacy in Britain, 1996
Creator
Office for National Statistics, Social Survey Division
Study number / PID
3791 (UKDA)
10.5255/UKDA-SN-3791-1 (DOI)
Data access
Restricted
Series
Not available
Abstract
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The Adult Literacy Survey, carried out in Great Britain in 1996, was part of an international programme of surveys known as the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS).
The aim was to profile the literacy skills of adults aged 16-65 using an internationally agreed measure. The objectives were to provide data for international comparison; to provide a profile of adult literacy in Great Britain; to provide a self-assessment of literacy skills by respondents; to collect background information to examine the link between literacy and socio-economic factors such as education, employment and income.
Main Topics:
Distribution of literacy by socio-demographic characteristics; literacy skills and work; occupational demand for literacy; literacy in everyday life; literacy practices and literacy skills; self-assessment of literacy skills for work and everyday life; adult education and training.
Standard Measures
Three measures of literacy (prose, document and quantitative) were calculated using Item Response Theory (IRT) by Educational Testing Services (ETS) of Princeton, New Jersey.
Topics
Keywords
Methodology
Data collection period
01/02/1996 - 01/07/1996
Country
Great Britain
Time dimension
Cross-sectional (one-time) study
Analysis unit
Individuals
National
Adults
Universe
Adults aged 16-65 living in private households in Great Britain
Sampling procedure
Multi-stage stratified random sample
The sampling frame was the Postcode Address File (PAF). Postcode sectors are the primary sampling unit. Sectors were stratified by region and indicators from the 1981 Census (SEG and proportion of households with no car available). There was oversampling in Scotland and Wales. One person per household was selected by the interviewer at random using Kish grid.
Kind of data
Numeric
Data collection mode
Face-to-face interview
CAPI
Access
Publisher
UK Data Service
Publication year
1998
Terms of data access
The Data Collection is available to UK Data Service registered users subject to the End User Licence Agreement.
Commercial use of the data requires approval from the data owner or their nominee. The UK Data Service will contact you.
Related publications
- Greenstein, F., Vignoles, A. and Mcintosh, S. (1999) 'Overeducation' and skills -: clarifying the concepts, [Discussion paper].London: London School of Economics and Political Science.
- Hansbro, J., Carey, S. and Low, S. (1997) Adult literacy in Britain :: a survey of adults aged 16-65 in Great Britain carried out by Social Survey division of ONS, London: HMSO.ISBN 0116209437 | 978-0116209436
- Low, S., Hansbro, J. and Carey, S. (1997) Adult literacy in Britain :: summary of key findings, London: Office for National Statistics, Social Survey Division.