Evidence library

The overall aim of this research was to gauge and track the opinions of charity trustees and the general public in order to provide evidence to inform OSCR?s decision making. The results may be compared with OSCR?s 2008 surveys of trustees and the general public, and the 2008 Charity Commission for England and Wales survey into public trust and confidence in charities. The surveys will be repeated in 2010. The research with charity trustees took place in February and March 2009 and was conducted using two methodologies: ? a self completion survey using a sample of trustees selected at random from OSCR?s database of charities. The survey resulted in 386 completed questionnaires from charity trustees. ? in depth telephone interviews with 23 trustees who responded to the self completion survey and expressed an interest in taking part in further research. A survey of the general public involved 1,006 in-home interviews conducted in 41 constituency-based sampling points. Interviews were conducted at random, with quotas set for age, gender and socio-economic group in order to ensure the sample reflected the Scottish population. Scotinform also conducted qualitative research through focus groups with the general public to discuss their views on charities and identify key issues of concern. Six focus groups were conducted in three locations: Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness.