Results of choice experiment surveys on Places to Live, Ways to Travel, and Local Food

This report presents the results of discrete choice experiment surveys and focus group discussions conducted within the project “Informing a socially and spatially just future for the Scottish rural economy: Pinpointing opportunities, assets and support needs,” funded by the Strategic Research Programme (2022-27) of the Scottish Government’s Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division (JHI-E1-1).

The report explores Scottish people’s preferences between rural (or urban) localities as potential places of residence; preferences for different ways to travel in rural areas, including one’s own vehicle, bicycle, and public transport; and preferences for food products, namely different vegetable mixes that can be produced in Scotland’s rural areas.

The choice experiment surveys were disseminated among Scotland’s rural dwellers between August and November 2023, achieving a sample of 341. The choices made and other issues related to the three topics were further discussed within focus groups with a subset of respondents between March and April 2024. A refined version of the choice experiment on places to live was disseminated to a sample representative of the entire Scottish population in terms of age and gender, covering the whole urban-rural continuum and different household types, in March 2025, for a total of 1,007 responses.