GCS Methodology
Scotland's Global Connections Survey is a sample survey, which was circulated to a representative sample of 5,035 companies in 2012 (to collect export data for 2011) who had operations in Scotland. The companies were selected using stratified random sampling from the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR).
For the 2014 survey, responses were received from around 1,600 companies (including nil responses).
The information provided was supplemented with data from the ONS UK Monthly Business Survey (Production and Services), the ONS Monthly Business Survey Retail Sales Inquiry, the ONS Annual International Trade in Services and the ONS Annual Business Survey.
The data were then grossed up to cover all companies on the IDBR using turnover. Adjustments were also made to the data for some industries based on other available information.
Measuring Intra-UK Trade
Estimates of Scottish exports to the rest of the UK along with the combined (rest of UK and international exports) are available within the publication. As companies are not legally required to report their accounts below UK level, their accounting practices do not allow accurate reporting below UK level. There is also the issue of products being shipped across UK to complete production adding value at various stages, therefore the rest of UK exports should be interpreted with due care. Articles discussing these and other issues in more detail were published in previous Scottish Economic Statistics publications. These can be accessed by the links below.
Scottish Economic Statistics 2007: Intra-UK trade discussion article
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/2485808/58104
GCS Archive
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/Exports/GCSArchive