NILT is an annual cross-sectional survey which first ran in 1998. It builds upon the Northern Ireland Social Attitudes (NISA) Survey, which ran from 1989 to 1996. NILT’s aim is to provide a record of public opinion which can feed into public and policy debate. The NILT team recognise the importance of cross-national comparisons, and so, where possible, NILT collaborates with other surveys, such as British Social Attitudes or the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP).
Each year, a representative sample of 1,200 adults middle east rcs data aged 18 years or over living across the region take part in NILT. The survey comprises a face-to-face interview followed by a short self-completion section. four or five key social policy issues, and the range of topics each year reflects current debates.
The questions on abortion in 2016 were specifically designed as one part of a larger ESRC-funded study (Buying abortion through the internet: exploring the social harm of criminalising abortion in Northern Ireland and the UK) at Ulster University. Whilst NILT, and NISA before it, had previously included a small number of questions on abortion, these tended to be within the Religious Observance module, and so the context was religiosity or morality. In 2016, the questions focused on the legislative framework.