Official Statistics

Methods and limitations

Updated 23 March 2021

Applies to England

1. Monthly Indicator Releases

The People and Nature Survey for England gathers information on people’s experiences and views about the natural environment, and its contributions to our health and wellbeing.

Note that these are experimental statistics and indicators have been generated using interim methods. There will likely be small differences between these monthly interim indicators and full People and Nature Survey results once methods have been finalised.

Previous publications and the full results for all months are available.

These publications reports a set of weighted national interim indicators from the survey, which have been generated using data collected from April 1st.

• % adults spending time outside in last 12 months by frequency

• % children spending time outside in last 12 months by frequency

• % adults visiting outside in last 14 days

• % adults visiting outside in last 7 days

• % adults visiting outside by place type (e.g. parks) in last month

• % adults agree that natural spaces are ‘Good places for mental health and wellbeing’

• % adults agree natural spaces are ‘Places that encourage physical health and exercise’

• % adults agree having access to a private or shared garden, outdoor space or allotment is important

• % adults agree ‘I feel part of nature’

• % adults agree ‘Being in nature makes me very happy’

• % adults agree that they are taking more time to notice and engage with every day nature

• % adults engagement with nature since coronavirus restrictions began

• % adults behaviour and attitude changes in relation to green and natural spaces since coronavirus restrictions began

• % adults increasing amount of time on certain activities since coronavirus restrictions began

• % adults reducing the amount of; time they travel by car, food their household throws away or meat they eat since coronavirus restrictions began

• % adults prevented from spending time outdoors since coronavirus restrictions began due to certain barriers

• % children spending time outside and engaging with nature since coronavirus restrictions began, as reported by adults

The People and Nature Survey will release a full dataset on a quarterly basis, with the first data release scheduled for September 2020.

2. Methodological Note

The People and Nature Survey for England gathers evidence and trend data through an online survey relating to people’s enjoyment, access, understanding of and attitudes to the natural environment, and its contributions to wellbeing.

People and Nature is an online panel survey (self-completion questionnaire), sampling up to 25,000 adults in England on a continuous basis over 2020/2021. The survey launched in April 2020 and builds on the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) survey that ran from 2009 to 2019.

The People and Nature Survey consists of different modules. All modules are asked throughout the entire year, but certain modules (those that do not require an overall sample size of 25,000) are only asked to a randomly selected sub-sample of individuals. This means that some questions will have responses from everyone asked and some will have a smaller sample size.

Data from the People and Nature Survey will initially be released as ‘Experimental Statistics’, a form of Official Statistics that are in the testing phase. In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we have provided an early release of some indicative metrics using data from a subset of the survey questions. This early release will enable us, in a timely manner, to better understand the impacts and implications of COVID-19 on people’s engagement with nature, health and wellbeing, and will inform the Government’s and others’ plans for recovery.

2.1 Sampling

A sample of households was selected from the England subset of Kantar’s Lightspeed Panel. Samples are representative of the target population (adults aged 16 or older living in England) and quotas for age, gender, region, education and ethnicity are in place to ensure key population groups are adequately represented.

Sample sizes are included in the interim indicator releases for each question, and in the supporting data. It should be noted that all respondents were not asked all questions, and this has been flagged where applicable.

2.2 Weighting

These early release indicators are interim and they may be subject to change once the final bespoke weighting solutions for the People and Nature Survey have been developed. Developing bespoke weights for the full People and Nature survey dataset will require at least 3-6 months of data to understand relationships between variables and demographics. Therefore the final weighting scheme will not be finalised until at least the end of 2020.

The weighting used for the monthly interim indicators will be representative of the English adult population, according to the latest population estimate data available from the Office for National Statistics and based on the weighting developed for the MENE survey data. This approach is appropriate given the large similarities between MENE and the People and Nature Survey, and the significant amount of MENE data which supports the selection of key variables used to develop the MENE weights. These have been applied at aggregate level for each monthly People and Nature interim indicator.

Weights have been checked to ensure that they scale to the sample size for each indicator. For indicators where respondents are only able to select one response option, proportions have been checked to ensure they add up to 100%. Associated 95% confidence intervals are also reported.

More information about the People and Nature Survey and the latest questionnaire are available.

3. Strengths & Limitations

3.1 Experimental statistics collected via an online panel

The People and Nature Survey is conducted by Kantar using its online Lightspeed panel. The online panel brings benefits in terms of speed, ability to interview during lockdown and reducing social desirability bias. However, it is important to flag limitations:

• Since panals are opt-in there is the risk that panelists are not representative of the general population.
• Online panel surveys exclude the off-line population.

To minimise the risk of bias, Lightspeed uses a variety of recruitment methods. This includes opt-in email, e-newsletter campaigns, and social media.

Sample composition analysis during development of these statistics compared online panel methods and MENE. It showed that the online samples tend to be more representative than MENE in terms of age and working status. However, online samples tend not to represent the very oldest in the population well (as they are the least likely to have internet access). Both the online panel and MENE tend to achieve samples that are broadly representative of the population by region. Online samples tend to under-represent people from ethnic minority backgrounds, which is why an additional quota criteria on ethnicity was set for the People and Nature Survey. The survey was developed specifically to ensure it worked well on mobile devices. Quota objectives to achieve a nationally representative sample in terms of age, gender, region, ethnicity, and education level were achieved for the May sample (at least 95% of the target). Work is continuing to understand strengths and limitations of the panel method during the experimental phase and further information will be published in due course.

3.2 Comparing the monthly interim indicators with other data

Where appropriate, these interim monthly indicators have been compared against other data sources and we report where similar or contrasting trends have been identified.

Although similar types of data are reported, direct comparisons of the People and Nature Survey and MENE findings should not be made. The People and Nature Survey has similar aims and many similar questions to MENE and, like the external survey data included in these monthly reports, it provides useful context. However, it is important to note significant differences in methods could have an impact on results. The People and Nature Survey uses an online panel approach whereas MENE used face-to-face interviews; there are differences in how respondents answer questions between these two different survey methods. Furthermore, for many questions, there have been other changes including question recall period and question length, plus new questions have been added to the People and Nature Survey.

Natural England are exploring an approach to calibrate a small number of key metrics from the People and Nature Survey and MENE. This approach aims to harmonise these metrics before and after the change in survey approach.

We have decided the best approach for calibration is ‘backward’ harmonisation. This will mean some historical MENE metrics will change (i.e. a new calibration factor will be applied to some metrics calculated from historical MENE data to allow for a degree of continuity between MENE and the new People and Nature Survey).

To harmonise any metrics between the People and Nature Survey and MENE, a parallel run will take place where online and face-to-face interview approaches are conducted at the same time. Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, the feasibility of harmonising certain metrics between the People and Nature Survey and MENE will be unknown until face-to-face interviews can be safely conducted over a sufficient amount of time (ca. 1 year). Therefore, any use of MENE data for context should be used with caution and understanding of the limitations (see ‘Strengths and Limitations’).

3.3 Socio-demographic characteristics

Results from MENE indicated that there was inequality of environmental engagement between population sub-groups defined by a number of demographic characteristics (including: age, ethnicity, and socio-economic background, region, urban-rural and health).

The People and Nature survey launched in April 2020 and has been designed to report findings by socio-demographic characteristics. This is planned for the first quarterly release in September 2020. Reporting on a quarterly basis (rather than monthly) ensures larger sample sizes are reported against each question, thereby reducing standard errors.

4. Experimental Statistics

All initial releases from the People and Nature survey will be released as Experimental Statistics. This status highlights to users that the statistics are in the testing phase and that Natural England is still working on further developing the methodologies used in their production.

Natural England have worked to ensure adherence to the Code of Practice throughout all stages of the People and Nature Survey, including in the production of these interim indicators. Further detail on methods used and data quality is available in the ‘Methodological note’ and ‘Strengths and Limitations’ sections. In June 2020, the Office for Statistical Regulation published a rapid review of these statistics, which Natural England are using to improve the quality of releases.

These interim indicators have been generated quickly, using interim and experimental methods for the purpose of understanding the potential impacts of COVID-19 on how people are engaging with the natural environment in England. Interim weights have been generated for these indicators using weighting solutions developed for the MENE. There will likely be small differences between these monthly interim indicators and full People and Nature Survey results due to the differences in weighting approaches (see ‘Methodological note’). Natural England will be releasing a weighted respondent dataset for the People and Nature Survey, as experimental statistics, on a quarterly basis, starting in September 2020.

Although other data sources are referred to in order to provide context in this release, direct comparisons between the People and Nature Survey and MENE should not be made (see ‘Strengths and Limitations’).

We seek feedback from stakeholders on the interpretation and presentation of the indicators and will make adjustments as appropriate and where possible. These experimental statistics will continue to be developed over the first year of the People and Nature Survey, with a view to ultimately securing National Statistic designation. We welcome all feedback from users to aid this development by email to: people_and_nature@naturalengland.org.uk