Letter to members of the sample for the 2008 Social Survey: Households and Environment

Dear sir/madam:

The purpose of this letter is to request your cooperation in the 2008 Social Survey: Households and Environment. This an official statistical operation included as part of Catalonia's Statistical Plan for 2006–2009, in the annual statistical action programme for 2008 that implements this action plan, as well as the National Statistical Plan. This survey is being conducted by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia in conjunction with the National Statistical Institute. The goal of the survey is to get information on the habits, consumer patterns and attitudes of households in relation to the environment, especially on the equipment of households and the use that is made of this equipment in relation to a variety of environmental factors.

Your household has been chosen following a strictly random process, and it thus forms part of a representative sample of family households around Catalonia. Therefore, in the forthcoming days, a duly accredited interviewer will get in touch with your household either by telephone or by visiting your home. This interviewer will ask for your cooperation in responding to a series of questions, and he or she will also offer all you the technical support and advice you might need. Nevertheless, if you prefer, you may respond to the survey on Internet, following the instructions in the attached note.

The 2008 Social Survey is part of official Catalan statistics and is thus regulated by the statistical legislation currently in force in Catalonia. As a result, the individual information which is required to be shared will be protected by statistical confidentiality; that is, it may not be made public or shared with any person or entity, including the public administration. Likewise, given its public interest, all citizens, entities and institutions are required to provide the statistical information requested completely and truthfully within the set timeframe (for further information on statistical confidentiality and the obligatory requirement to provide information in official statistics, please see chapter 4 and 5 of Law 23/1998, dated 30th December 1998, on statistics in Catalonia).

Accurate knowledge of the changing status of the population of Catalonia is one of the strategic objectives of anyone with political responsibilities in the realm of planning and coordinating public services. It is also a vastly important issue for researchers and users of statistics in general.

Just as with all official statistics, the results will be published free of charge on the website of the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (http://www.idescat.cat).

I would like to thank you in advance for your valuable cooperation.