Rannsachadh Mòr (The Big Survey) – Take a break and fill it in!
04 July 2006
The Big Survey – or Rannsachadh Mòr in Gaelic – gives you a chance to say what you think. At the beginning of June, the survey arrived on the doorsteps of 25% of households in the Western Isles and Skye and Lochalsh, making it the largest ever piece of research on the arts and culture in this area. The survey aims to find out what people think about the Gaelic arts and their impact on the community, the economy and the language. Every single opinion is valid – both positive and negative, from Gaelic and non - Gaelic speakers.
Understanding the views of the local people is essential in order to improve the quality and range of arts that they receive, and to make these more accessible to everyone. The survey offers an opportunity for people to make their views known and in doing so, to shape the artistic and cultural services that affect the quality of life in the Western Isles and Skye and Lochalsh.
So far the response has been overwhelming with over 1,000 replies arriving back within the first 3 weeks. In order to obtain as representative a picture as possible, we are hoping that still more people will fill in the survey and send it back. The more replies we get, the more accurate the results will be. So if the questionnaire has arrived at your door, and you haven’t as yet responded, now is the time to fill it in and send it back if you want your views to be heard!
“Aside from results on specific forms of Gaelic-related artistic and cultural activities such as radio, story-telling, or local bands, the survey touches on some fundamental issues concerning the distinctiveness of the culture of these islands and how it may be preserved and developed. Gaining such insights is unusual as it is difficult, expensive and time consuming to gather data from a cross-section of the population – for this reason I hope the people of the area who receive a questionnaire can find the 20 or 30 minutes necessary to make their views known.”
Director of research Professor Sproull
