Adults visiting heritage sites

Published 24 October 2017

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• there was a significant increase in White, Asian and Black adults visiting heritage sites between 2005/06 and 2015/16; the increase was particularly large for Asian and Black adults

• White adults (including White ethnic minorities) were significantly more likely than Black and Asian adults, and adults of Other ethnic groups, to visit heritage sites

Things you need to know

These figures are estimates based on the Taking Part survey.

The Taking Part survey is a ‘sample survey’. It collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach ‘findings’) about the total population.

Unless stated otherwise, the commentary for this data includes only reliable, or ‘statistically significant’, findings. Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they can be repeated, and are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.

Specifically, the statistical tests used mean we can be confident that if we carried out the same survey on different random samples of the population, 19 times out of 20 we would get similar findings.

As with all surveys, the estimates from the Taking Part survey are subject to a degree of uncertainty as they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for ethnic minority groups.

What the data measures

This data measures the percentage of adults (aged 16 and over) in England who had visited a heritage site in the year before taking the survey.

Percentages are calculated out of yearly totals of survey respondents. Results are adjusted to make them representative of the population as a whole.

The ethnic categories used in this data

For the period 2005/06 to 2015/16 the ethnic categories used are:

• White - including White British and White ethnic minorities
• Other - all other ethnic groups

These broad ethnic groups have been used because analysis is not available for the specific ethnic groups across the whole time series.

However, for each of the years 2005/06, 2010/11 and 2015/16, results were broken down into 4 broad ethnic groups:

• Asian
• Black
• White (which includes White ethnic minorities)
• Other (which includes adults of mixed ethnicity)

2. Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: Taking Part survey

Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Number
All	73	10,171
Asian	60	434
Black	52	242
White	75	9,312
Other	57	174

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Adults visiting heritage sites Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• 73% of adults had visited a heritage site at least once in the past year

• White adults (75%) were significantly more likely to have visited a heritage site than adults from the Asian (60%), Black (52%) or Other (57%) ethnic groups

3. Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity over time (3 years)

• Location: England
• Time period: 2005/06, 2010/11 and 2015/16
• Source: Taking Part survey

Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity over time (3 years)

	All		Asian		Black		White		Other
Time	All %	All Number	Asian %	Asian Number	Black %	Black Number	White %	White Number	Other %	Other Number
2005/06	70	28,117	51	2,080	41	1,322	72	24,038	60	645
2010/11	71	14,102	55	796	45	423	73	12,617	64	238
2015/16	73	10,171	60	434	52	242	75	9,312	57	174

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Adults visiting heritage sites Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity over time (3 years) Summary

This data shows that:

• in all 3 years, White adults (including White ethnic minorities) were significantly more likely to visit heritage sites than Black and Asian adults, and adults from all other ethnic minorities

• there was a significant increase in adults from Asian, Black and White ethnicities visiting heritage sites from 2005/06 to 2015/16

• between 2005/06 and 2015/16 the increase in adults visiting sites was larger in the Asian and Black groups than in the White groups, increasing from 51% to 60% among Asian adults, from 41% to 52% among Black adults and from 72% to 75% among White adults

4. Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity over time

• Location: England
• Time period: 2005/06 to 2015/16
• Source: Taking Part survey

Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity over time

	All		White		Other
Time	All %	All Number	White %	White Number	Other %	Other Number
2005/06	70	28,117	72	24,038	51	4,047
2006/07	69	24,174	72	21,317	48	2,829
2007/08	71	25,720	73	22,794	54	2,880
2008/09	68	14,452	71	12,979	50	1,451
2009/10	70	6,097	71	5,455	50	630
2010/11	71	14,102	73	12,617	54	1,457
2011/12	74	9,188	76	8,301	61	871
2012/13	73	9,838	75	9,054	57	775
2013/14	73	10,355	74	9,545	60	798
2014/15	73	9,817	75	9,050	56	757
2015/16	73	10,171	75	9,312	57	850

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Adults visiting heritage sites Percentage of adults who had visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity over time Summary

This data shows that:

• there was an increase in all adults visiting heritage sites of 3 percentage points

• White adults were more likely to have visited heritage sites than adults from all other ethnic groups in every year in the period

• the gap between White adults and adults of other ethnic groups narrowed slightly, from 21 percentage points in 2005/06 to 18 percentage points in 2015/16

5. Methodology

The Taking Part survey measures cultural activity by adults (aged 16 and over) and children (aged 5 to 10 and 11 to 15), living in private households in England. There is no geographical restriction on where the activity or event occurred.

The sample for the Taking Part survey was chosen by first randomly selecting households from the Postcode Address File.

An interviewer visits these addresses and, if contact is made, records details of all individuals living at each address. One adult, and where applicable one child aged 5 to 10 and one aged 11 to 15, is then selected to participate in the survey.

These figures only apply to adults aged 16 and over.

Weighting

Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population and improve their accuracy.

For example, a survey which contains 25% females and 75% males will not accurately reflect the views of the general population, which we know is around 50% male and 50% female.

Statisticians rebalance or ‘weight’ the survey results to more accurately represent the general population. This helps to make them more reliable.

Survey weights are usually applied to make sure the survey sample has broadly the same gender, age, ethnic and geographic make up as the general population.

The data in the Taking Part survey sample is weighted to make sure it is representative of the population in England. The data is weighted to:

• compensate for unequal probabilities of selection
• adjust for non-responses

Weighting is based on mid-2014 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Confidence intervals

Confidence intervals for each ethnic group are available in ‘Download the data’.

Of the adults responding to the Taking Part survey question, 75% of White adults had visited a heritage site in 2015/16. This is a reliable estimate of the percentage of White adults in England who visited a heritage site in that period. But because the Taking Park survey is based on a random sample of adults, it’s impossible to be 100% certain of the true percentage.

It’s 95% certain, however, that somewhere between 74% and 77% of White adults in England visited a heritage site. In statistical terms this is a 95% confidence interval. This means that if 100 random samples were taken, then 95 times out of 100 the estimate would fall between the upper and lower confidence interval. But 5 times out of 100 it would fall outside this range.

The smaller the survey sample, the more uncertain the estimate and the wider the confidence interval. For example, the number of Black adults responding to the survey in 2015/16 (242 respondents) was much smaller than the overall adult population that responded to the survey (10,171 respondents), so we can be less certain about the estimate for the smaller group of Black adults (52%). This greater uncertainty is expressed by a wider confidence interval, of between 43% and 61% for Black adults in 2015/16.

Rounding

Percentages are given to the nearest whole number.

Further technical information

Taking Part technical reports

6. Data sources

Source

Taking Part survey

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Publication frequency

Twice a year

Purpose of data source

The Taking Part Survey measures people's involvement in cultural activities in England.

The data is widely used by policy officials, practitioners, academics and charities.

Secondary source

Taking Part, focus on: diversity trends

Publisher

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Publication frequency

Ad-hoc

7. Download the data

Adults visiting heritage sites - Spreadsheet (csv) 8 KB

This file contains: Measure, Time, Ethnicity, Geography, Value, Upper bound, Lower bound, Sample size

Publication release date: 24 October 2017

full page history

1. 24 October 2017 First published

From: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

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