“Could you name any particular thing the Government is asking people to do at the moment?”

72.4% of those asked were able to name at least one Government Instruction. Some of these named more than one.

Answers are classified as follows:

The question was left entirely open, and interviewers were instructed not to prompt in any circumstances.

In considering these results it should be borne in mind that informants were not asked how many Government instructions they could think of, but whether they could name any. Informants may therefore be expected to have named the one or two Government instructions that were uppermost in their minds, and the fact that any one informant may have named only one or two does not mean that he was unaware of other instructions.

The percentages given above, therefore, are mainly significant in the relations they bear to one another, and do not indicate the proportions of the public that are aware of the particular Government instructions named.

Breakdown of these results into answers received from men and women show little difference, except that relatively more women than men mentioned Salvage. The proportion of those unable to give any answer is roughly the same in both groups.

People in the younger age groups were more often able to give a reply than those aged over 45.

People living in rural districts more frequently said Salvage than those living in urban districts.

“ Are there any Government instructions or information that you would like to have explained more fully? “

78.5% said that there were not or that they were unable to think of any at the moment.

In considering this result it should be remembered that the 78.5% includes both those who thought they were clear about Government instructions and did not want further explanation and those who were apathetic.

The remaining 21.5% answered as follows:

“ Are you quite clear about what you should do in the case of invasion? “

In the category “Vague” are included those people who said that some other member of the family would take charge, or that they would do as they were told by some person in authority.

The aim of the question was to find out whether people felt they were clear about the invasion instructions, and not whether they had correctly understood the instructions. Answers were subjective on the part of the informant.

Interviewers were asked to record any remarks that informants made with regard to what they would do. As only a proportion of those interviewed volunteered such remarks they have not been tabulated. A substantial proportion of these, however, repeated such slogans as “Stay put”, “Stay where you are”, “Carry on” and “Keep indoors”.

Those who answered “No” were asked what they were not clear about. The replies have not been tabulated as they tend to be miscellaneous or very vague. An answer given by many was that they simply did not know what to do at all and could therefore not say precisely what it was that they were not clear about.

These results seem to show that those people who were satisfied with “Stay put”, etc., tended to answer “Yes”, and that those who answered “No” wanted the slogan more clearly defined.

It will be noted that in the previous, unprompted, question about Government Instructions only 3.3% mentioned Invasion as a subject they wanted more information about.

Men show a higher proportion answering “Yes” than women, and women have a higher proportion than men giving vague answers or saying “No.”

The middle age groups have a higher proportion answering “Yes” than the Under 20s or Over 65s, the older and younger people answering “No” more frequently. The proportion giving vague answers does not differ as between Age Groups.

Breakdown by urban and rural districts shows no statistically significant differences between the two groups.