What you should know

The Survey on Language Uses of the Population 2023 (EULP 2023) is an official statistical activity that is part of the Annual Programme for Statistical Action Programme (action 04 05 01), implemented by the Law on the Statistical Plan for Catalonia 2017–2020, approved by Law 5/2016 of 23 December 2016 (currently extended to 2023). The bodies responsible are the Ministry of Culture, through the Secretariat for Language Policy, and Idescat.

The EULP 2023 is the fifth edition of the Statistics on Language Uses in Catalonia, the previous ones have been in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018.

2. What are the objectives of the survey?

The main objective of the EULP 2023 is to find out the population of Catalonia's language identification and uses of Catalan and other languages in the different spaces where people interact, with specific interest in the situation of Catalan. These statistics aim to meet the need to have official data as needed for planning linguistic policies and for undertaking and assessing actions in the framework of the social use of language.

In order to achieve these objectives, the following information is collected and organised into the following thematic areas of a questionnaire:

• Identification and residence
• Languages and knowledge
• Home
• Family
• Social environments
• Consumer environments
• Self-assessment of use
• Socio-linguistic environment
• Self-assessment of knowledge
• Socio-demographic data

A secondary goal, which can be analysed in the case of a five-yearly periodic operation, is to observe the evolution of linguistic uses over time.

3. Who will be asked for this information?

The survey will be administered to people aged 15 and over who were included in Catalonia's Population Register. A total of 9.000 people from all over Catalonia will be interviewed.

4. From what source was the sample of interviewees chosen?

To choose the interviewees, Catalonia's Population Register was used, a government register that contains compulsorily updated information on residents included in the municipal population censuses of all the local councils of Catalonia. This register is in the care of Idescat and is regulated by the Statistical Law of Catalonia.

5. What method was used to choose the interviewees?

The statistical system used is called random stratified sampling, which consists of randomly selecting a small number of people to represent Catalonia as a whole by territory of residence, with a representative sample for the Aran due to its linguistic peculiarities.

In order to ensure that the selected sample is a faithful reflection of the general population, it is very important for all the people selected to participate in the survey.

6. Is the information being asked confidential?

The individual information on the survey is protected by statistical secret under the terms set forth in the Statistical Law of Catalonia and also by the legislation on personal data protection. This means that the individualised data contained on the questionnaires may not be made public or disclosed to any person or entity, not even public administration, with the exception of any person or entity that is also bound by obligations to respect statistical secret, and they must be treated with the security measures that guarantee their confidentiality. In this regard, all the personnel of Idescat and other organisations participating in official statistics in Catalonia must take a solemn oath to preserve the confidentiality of this information, and the liability provisions established by law in the event of non-compliance applies to them.

Likewise, the obligation for statistical secret is also extended to the publication of the results, meaning that both Idescat and the other organisations forming part of the Statistical System of Catalonia must take special care to ensure that individual information cannot be deduced from the tabulated information that is published.

7. Is it compulsory to respond to the survey?

Given the public interest, established by the Parliament of Catalonia, of all the the statistics included in the Statistical Plan of Catalonia, cooperation by both citizens and companies in responding to questionnaires is legally binding in order to ensure an appropriate number of responses and, in consequence, reliable statistical results (chapter 5 of the Statistical Law of Catalonia).

This is expressed in article 38 of the aforementioned law: "All citizens, entities and institutions are obliged by law to provide the information requested, and this information must be complete and truthful".

8. How is the survey conducted?

The survey is conducted by means of a methodology that combines an Internet questionnaire, telephone or person-to-person interviews.

If the survey is conducted by Internet (CAWI), the respondent must use a username and password provided by ordinary mail as part of the letter of presentation of the EULP 2023 as received previously. If the chosen channel is the telephone, a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) will be carried out and, if telephone localisation is not possible they will be visited at their home in order to conduct a computer assisted personal interview (CAPI). In the latter case, the interviewer is inexcusably required to carry the credentials issued by Idescat with his or her photograph, full name, national identity number and interview ID code, which he or she is required to show to the respondent.

9. Can anyone living in the home respond?

Only the person selected may respond to the interview; no other person may respond on his or her behalf. If the selected person is not present at the time of the survey, another household member cannot be interviewed in his/her place.

10. When is the fieldwork performed?

The fieldwork will start in the last week of September 2023 and will last until March 2024.

11. Where can I get further information?

During the fieldwork period, a telephone number and email address are provided to deal with any queries which arise.

• Telephone: 900 842 244
• Email: usoslinguistics at idescat dot cat

12. Where can I find the results of the survey?

You can find the results of these statistics in the Survey on Language Uses of the Population section of the Idescat website.