• Value statements associated with a progressive tolerant society

• To enable the research team to determine the extent to which respondents support values – such the value of living in a tolerant society – and the factors influencing this support

How important are each of the following topics to you?:

• Living in a society that is just, inclusive and embracing of all without any barriers to participation based on sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, ethnicity, age, class or ability

• Supporting physical and mental health, that of yourselves and others

• Seeing corporations and businesses adopt more ethical, responsible and sustainable ways of working

• The importance respondents attribute to staying up to date

• To enable the research team to determine the importance respondents attribute staying up to date and the factors influencing levels of importance

• Highest level of qualification

• In other studies (e.g. Putnam, 2000) level of education has been found to be positively associated with more general civic participation. For this project, inclusion of this variable will enable the research team to explore the extent to which level of education influences the dependent variables above.

Choice of:

• High School Diploma/School level qualifications

• Bachelors Degree

• Post Graduate Certificate or Diploma

• Masters Degree

• Doctoral Degree

• No formal qualifications

• Other (please specify)

• Occupation

• There is conflicting evidence in terms of whether type of employment positively or negatively influences more general civil participation (e.g. Gershuny and Sullivan, 2019; Lorenzini and Guigni, 2012; Putnam, 2000). In this instance, inclusion of this variable is to enable the research team to explore the extent to which occupation type influences the dependent variables above.

Choice of:

• Higher-level professional (e.g. Lawyer, Architect, Medical doctor, Chief executive, Economist)

• Professional (e.g. Social worker, Nurse, Journalist, Retail manager, Teacher)

• Intermediate professional (e.g. Armed forces (to sergeant), Paramedic, Nursery Nurse, Police [to sergeant], Bank staff)

• Small employer or own account worker (e.g. Farmer, Shopkeeper, Taxi driver, Driving instructor, Window cleaner)

• Semi-routine role (such as Traffic warden, Receptionist, Shelf-stacker, Care worker, Telephone Salesperson)

• Routine role (e.g. Bar staff, cleaner, labourer, Bus driver, Lorry driver)

• Never worked/long-term unemployed

• Full time student

• Network and social-related drivers for staying up to date:

• Network-related social influence impacts on the choices of individuals (e.g. Berger, 2016; Christakis and Fowler, 2010; Jackson, 2019). As such, these variables enable the research team to explore the impacts on the dependent variables of respondents engaging in discussions about current affairs (etc.) within and outside of the home; also, any impact associated with homophilic networks and communities (e.g., those in which similar political opinions are shared)

• How often do you discuss news, current affairs and new developments (such as political, economic and scientific developments) with: i) Friends; and ii) Colleagues?

• Do your friends share the same political views as you?

• Do your friends have the same level of qualifications as you?

• Live in the same neighbourhood as you?

• Have the same occupation type as you?

• For the first of these questions, respondents were asked to select according to a six point frequency scale, ranging from “Once a day or more” to “Never” (with “N/A” also an option)

• The remaining four questions utilised a five point scale, ranging from “All do” to “None do” (with “Don’t know” also an option)

• Ways of staying up to date – Sources and frequencies

• To enable the research team to explore exactly how respondents keep up to date with news, current affairs and new developments

Please indicate the extent to which you do the following:

• Watch news programmes or channels (on your TV, laptop or other device)

• Listen to audio news programmes or channels (on your radio, phone or other device)

• Listen to audio news podcasts (on your radio, phone or other device)

• Read newspapers (physical copies or online)

• Visit news websites

• Use social media and blogs for news content

• Use social media and blogs to see people’s opinions on news, current affairs or new developments

• Ways of staying up to date – Sources and frequencies

• To enable the research team to explore how respondents keep up to date with news, current affairs and new developments

And more generally, approximately how often do you:

• Read popular science magazines (such as New Scientist, Discover or National Geographic)

• Read current affairs magazines (such as The Economist, Time Magazine or The New Yorker)

• Read professional magazines (such as Harvard Business Review)

• Read professional journals (for example, those with research articles, reports, and practical articles applicable to your profession)

• Read books relating to news, current affairs or new developments

• Watch YouTube, TedX or similar videos to engage with perspectives on political, economic, or scientific developments, research findings or other topics

• What influences how respondents stay up to date

• To enable the research team to explore the extent to which certain content attributes/qualities influence what people consume when seeking to stay up to date

For each of the sources selected above, to what extent is the following important:

• The rigour of the analysis provided

• The entertainment value of the content (e.g. if a polemic, controversial or argumentative approach is used)

• Whether the content exposes you to new ideas or perspectives

• Whether you are presented with a range of views

• Whether an in-depth explanation of the issues is provided

• Whether you are provided with a quick and simple update

• Whether the analysis mirrors your own worldview