Introduction
The three postal surveys will be analysed, by firstly comparing the original surveys of 1976, 1985 and 2003 and secondly by comparing the groups of respondents to the 2003 survey who affirmed that they answered the 1976/ 1985 surveys with the respondents to the 2003 survey who had not taken part in the previous surveys. The two different ways of comparing the three surveys, 1976, 1985 and 2003 will be conducted by looking at the questions common to the three surveys. The actual number of people who answered the question is given by the numbers in the brackets in the tables or by N=. The statement ‘no response’ means that the respondent did not answer the question: it was left blank on the questionnaire.
Table 1, ‘Comparison of questions from the three surveys, 1976, 1985, 2003’, lists the questions common to the three original surveys and will be analysed and compared below in the tables 2-9.