Poll finds Scots accent associated with ‘hard work and reliability’

Although Scots fare well in this little poll, I think the result is not too reliable.

The key factor to take take note of is the nature of the company carrying out the survey, who it is providing information to, and who it is using for its sample voices.

I think that sight unseen, if presented with ordinary folk from the streets of Glasgow, we’d be reproducing the blank stares that led to subtitles being added to Scottish television dramas a few years ago – thought by some to be necessary when the programmes were screened south of the border.

I don’t like statistics being abused like this (it’s a sore point with me), since statistics themselves are neutral. They’re just numbers that don’t have any inherent bias in the story they tell.

The bias, or spin, comes from the people who use them, or rather misuse them for their own purposes, and add words to misdirect the casual, untrained reader.

In this case, pick and choose a sample, pick and choose and audience, them tell them something that they want to hear.

For this to have any real relevance, it would need a properly constituted random sample of voices taken from across the country, and rather more than 300.

But it’s a nice piece of fun, gave somebody a job for few hours, and the Scots didn’t get beat up for a change, so it’s not all bad, even if it is really just ‘smoke and mirror’ stuff.

And if you want to turn it serious, them just consider the prejudicial attitudes it betrays in the UK-based executives who took part.

The Scots accent is strongly associated with hard work, success and reliability in the workplace, according to a poll of business executives.

Indian and Asian accents were the only ones to score higher in terms of perceived work ethic and reliability.

And only voices from the Home Counties and the US were more commonly associated with success in the survey.

[Executive] Communications firm The Aziz Corporation interviewed 300 UK-based executives for the poll.

Company chairman Professor Khalid Aziz said: “The Scottish accent is well liked, with many positive associations. This is consistent with a similar survey we carried out six years ago.”

Kirsty Young and Gordon Brown scored high on a list of individuals’ voices which was topped by celebrity businessman Peter Jones and sports presenter Clare Balding.

According to the poll, the worst voice for a top job would be a “working-class” Essex accent.

via Scots accent associated with ‘hard work and reliability’ | Scotland | STV News.