Social surveys and ethnic monitoring

This paper outlines the ways in which social surveys can compliment, stimulate and aid interpretation of ethnic monitoring of administrative records. It highlights particular survey resources for Great Britain and Northern Ireland; discusses how they can most effectively be used for analysis of the experience of ethnic minority groups, and provides some research examples, which have a direct bearing on the impetus to monitor the use of monitoring statistics. It concludes by summarising the benefits of using survey analysis to measure and evaluate inequalities and raises some questions relating to applying these messages from Great Britain to the Northern Ireland context.