Comparability

Comparability - geographical

The survey questionnaire is developed according to UN guidelines and is therefore partly comparable to statistics from other countries. Certain variables from the survey can be compared to Eurostat's releases about Cultural Statistics. Statistics on cultural habits in other Nordic countries are also published. E.g. publications from Kulturanalys Norden. To make the survey more internationally comparable the temporal frame of reference is now once again the more internationally common 12 months, after having been three months from 2018-2023-

Comparability over time

Societal and technological changes have resulted in an ongoing revision of the questionnaire for the Cultural Habits Survey since the first survey in 1964. A change has occurred from a conception of culture with a focus on traditional high brow activities such as opera, ballet and concerts, to a conception which is much broader. This new and broader conception covers everything from traditional cultural activities to digital games, sports and volunteering. The development in the conception of culture means that a larger proportion of the population is counted as users of culture and that especially the cultural consumption of children, the youth and the elderly has increased.ø

The cultural relevance of the survey content is a priority, which is however traded off against the possibility for comparison with previous iterations of the survey. A range of questions, such as visits in the home, have been removed since the first survey in 1964. On the other hand new questions have been added to measure new forms of cultural consumption. Examples of new questions are questions on digital games and streaming.

In 2018 age groupings were changed to create a more evenly divided scale. The first group was changed from 16-19 years old to 16-24 years old. This change facilitates better comparisons to other EU countries. Finally, the oldest age group is further subdivided into 65-74 years old and above 75 years old to be able to capture a more nuanced picture of the cultural habits of the elderly.

The temporal frame of reference for the Cultural Habits Survey 2024- is 12 months, like it was the case from 1964 to 2012. The Cultural Habits Survey 2018-2023 however used three months as the frame of reference and is therefore not able to be directly compared to previous Cultural Habits Surveys. However, the answer options for frequency in the current survey contains an answer option, which under certain assumptions makes it possible to calculate the proportion who have participated in a given cultural activity within the past three months.

The statistics on the membership of youth and outdoors associations originates from the archived StatBank statistic MEDLEM1. The current StatBank statistic MEDLEM2 was created because of organisational changes and adjustments of the counted youth and outdoors organisations. The membership and association counts for sports associations have been separated into their own statistics in the StatBank, where they previously were a part of MEDLEM1. MEDLEM2 covers established youth and outdoors organisations in Denmark. If new organisations are founded or if a currently measured organisation changes, a new statistic must be created.

Coherence - cross domain

Certain indicators may be compared to information from other statistics, among these statistics on developments within media produced by DR, as well as a series of statistics produced by Statistics Denmark, e.g. ICT Usage in Households and by Individuals. Finally, it is possible to compare certain indicators with a vast range of other cultural statistics produced by Statistics Denmark, e.g. statistics on libraries, performing arts, museums, film, sports etc.

Coherence - internal

Not relevant for these statistics.