Understanding Society (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, and the survey research organisations Verian Group and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

For full details of the main Understanding Society study, see SN 6614.

The Understanding Society: Waves 1-14, 2009-2023 and Harmonised BHPS: Waves 1-18, 1991-2009: Secure Access dataset contains British National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed, derived from the ONS National Statistics Postcode Directory (ONSPD). Grid references are presented in terms of Eastings and Northings, which are distances in metres (east and north, respectively) from the origin (0,0), which lies to the west of the Scilly Isles. Each grid reference is given a positional quality indicator to denote the accuracy of the grid reference. In the majority of cases, the assigned grid reference relates to the building of the matched address closest to the postcode mean. The grid references provided for Northern Ireland postcodes use the Irish National Grid system that covers all of Ireland and is independent of the British National Grid. No grid references are provided for postcodes in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

The Secure Access version includes all files in the Special Licence version (see SN 6931 for full details), plus a file for each wave that contains four variables relating to the National Grid Reference for each household: easting, northing, positional quality indicator (w_osgrdind), and a variable identifying whether it relates to the British or Irish grid system. The Secure Access version also contains a data file with full dates of birth for Understanding Society and BHPS respondents, which includes the day of birth variable, which is only available in this study.

Related UK Data Archive studies:

The Secure Access version of the dataset has more restrictive access conditions than standard End User Licence or Special Licence access datasets (see 'Access' section). Further details and links to the less restrictive versions can be found on the Understanding Society series Key data webpage.

International Data Access Network (IDAN)

These data are now available to researchers based outside the UK. Selected UKDS SecureLab/controlled datasets from the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) and the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) have been made available under the International Data Access Network (IDAN) scheme, via a Safe Room access point at one of the UKDS IDAN partners. Prospective users should read the UKDS SecureLab application guide for non-ONS data for researchers outside the UK via Safe Room Remote Desktop Access. Further details about the IDAN scheme can be found on the UKDS International Data Access Network webpage and the IDAN website.

Latest edition information

For the 17th edition (November 2024), Wave 14 data has been added. Other minor changes and corrections have also been made to Waves 1-13. Please refer to the revisions document for full details.

m_hhresp and n_hhresp files updated, December 2024

In the previous release (17th edition, November 2024), there was an issue with household income estimates in m_hhresp and n_hhresp where a household resides in a new local authority (approx. 300 households in wave 14). The issue has been corrected and imputation models re-estimated and imputed values updated for the full sample. Imputed values will therefore change compared to the versions in the original release. The variables affected are w_ficountax_dv, w_fihhmnnet3_dv, n_fihhmnnet4_dv and n_ctband_dv.

Suitable data analysis software

These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain over 2,047 variables.

Abstract

In 2001, the World Bank in co-operation with the Republika Srpska Institute of Statistics (RSIS), the Federal Institute of Statistics (FOS) and the Agency for Statistics of BiH (BHAS), carried out a Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS). The Living Standard Measurement Survey LSMS, in addition to collecting the information necessary to obtain a comprehensive as possible measure of the basic dimensions of household living standards, has three basic objectives, as follows:

1. To provide the public sector, government, the business community, scientific institutions, international donor organizations and social organizations with information on different indicators of the population's living conditions, as well as on available resources for satisfying basic needs.

2. To provide information for the evaluation of the results of different forms of government policy and programs developed with the aim to improve the population's living standard. The survey will enable the analysis of the relations between and among different aspects of living standards (housing, consumption, education, health, labor) at a given time, as well as within a household.

3. To provide key contributions for development of government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, based on analyzed data.

The Department for International Development, UK (DFID) contributed funding to the LSMS and provided funding for a further two years of data collection for a panel survey, known as the Household Survey Panel Series (HSPS). Birks Sinclair & Associates Ltd. were responsible for the management of the HSPS with technical advice and support provided by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex, UK. The panel survey provides longitudinal data through re-interviewing approximately half the LSMS respondents for two years following the LSMS, in the autumn of 2002 and 2003. The LSMS constitutes Wave 1 of the panel survey so there are three years of panel data available for analysis. For the purposes of this documentation we are using the following convention to describe the different rounds of the panel survey: - Wave 1 LSMS conducted in 2001 forms the baseline survey for the panel - Wave 2 Second interview of 50% of LSMS respondents in Autumn/ Winter 2002 - Wave 3 Third interview with sub-sample respondents in Autumn/ Winter 2003

The panel data allows the analysis of key transitions and events over this period such as labour market or geographical mobility and observe the consequent outcomes for the well-being of individuals and households in the survey. The panel data provides information on income and labour market dynamics within FBiH and RS. A key policy area is developing strategies for the reduction of poverty within FBiH and RS. The panel will provide information on the extent to which continuous poverty is experienced by different types of households and individuals over the three year period. And most importantly, the co-variates associated with moves into and out of poverty and the relative risks of poverty for different people can be assessed. As such, the panel aims to provide data, which will inform the policy debates within FBiH and RS at a time of social reform and rapid change. KIND OF DATA

Geographic coverage

National coverage. Domains: Urban/rural/mixed; Federation; Republic

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The Wave 3 sample consisted of 2878 households who had been interviewed at Wave 2 and a further 73 households who were interviewed at Wave 1 but were non-contact at Wave 2 were issued. A total of 2951 households (1301 in the RS and 1650 in FBiH) were issued for Wave 3. As at Wave 2, the sample could not be replaced with any other households.

Panel design

Eligibility for inclusion

The household and household membership definitions are the same standard definitions as a Wave 2. While the sample membership status and eligibility for interview are as follows: i) All members of households interviewed at Wave 2 have been designated as original sample members (OSMs). OSMs include children within households even if they are too young for interview. ii) Any new members joining a household containing at least one OSM, are eligible for inclusion and are designated as new sample members (NSMs). iii) At each wave, all OSMs and NSMs are eligible for inclusion, apart from those who move outof-scope (see discussion below). iv) All household members aged 15 or over are eligible for interview, including OSMs and NSMs.

Following rules

The panel design means that sample members who move from their previous wave address must be traced and followed to their new address for interview. In some cases the whole household will move together but in others an individual member may move away from their previous wave household and form a new split-off household of their own. All sample members, OSMs and NSMs, are followed at each wave and an interview attempted. This method has the benefit of maintaining the maximum number of respondents within the panel and being relatively straightforward to implement in the field.

Definition of 'out-of-scope'

It is important to maintain movers within the sample to maintain sample sizes and reduce attrition and also for substantive research on patterns of geographical mobility and migration. The rules for determining when a respondent is 'out-of-scope' are as follows:

i. Movers out of the country altogether i.e. outside FBiH and RS. This category of mover is clear. Sample members moving to another country outside FBiH and RS will be out-of-scope for that year of the survey and not eligible for interview.

ii. Movers between entities Respondents moving between entities are followed for interview. The personal details of the respondent are passed between the statistical institutes and a new interviewer assigned in that entity.

iii. Movers into institutions Although institutional addresses were not included in the original LSMS sample, Wave 3 individuals who have subsequently moved into some institutions are followed. The definitions for which institutions are included are found in the Supervisor Instructions.

iv. Movers into the district of Brcko are followed for interview. When coding entity Brcko is treated as the entity from which the household who moved into Brcko originated.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Cleaning operations

Data entry

As at Wave 2 CSPro was the chosen data entry software. The CSPro program consists of two main features to reduce to number of keying errors and to reduce the editing required following data entry: - Data entry screens that included all skip patterns. - Range checks for each question (allowing three exceptions for inappropriate, don't know and missing codes). The Wave 3 data entry program had more checks than at Wave 2 and DE staff were instructed to get all anomalies cleared by SIG fieldwork. The program was extensively tested prior to DE. Ten computer staff were employed in each Field Office and as all had worked on Wave 2 training was not undertaken.

Editing

Editing Instructions were compiled (Annex G) and sent to Supervisors. For Wave 3 Supervisors were asked to take more time to edit every questionnaire returned by their interviewers. The FBTSA examined the work twelve of the twenty-two Supervisors. All Supervisors made occasional errors with the Control Form so a further 100% check of Control Forms and Module 1 was undertaken by the FBTSA and SIG members.

Response rate

The panel survey has enjoyed high response rates throughout the three years of data collection with the wave 3 response rates being slightly higher than those achieved at wave 2. At wave 3, 1650 households in the FBiH and 1300 households in the RS were issued for interview. Since there may be new households created from split-off movers it is possible for the number of households to increase during fieldwork. A similar number of new households were formed in each entity; 62 in the FBiH and 63 in the RS. This means that 3073 households were identified during fieldwork. Of these, 3003 were eligible for interview, 70 households having either moved out of BiH, institutionalised or deceased (34 in the RS and 36 in the FBiH).

Interviews were achieved in 96% of eligible households, an extremely high response rate by international standards for a survey of this type.

In total, 8712 individuals (including children) were enumerated within the sample households (4796 in the FBiH and 3916 in the RS). Within in the 3003 eligible households, 7781 individuals aged 15 or over were eligible for interview with 7346 (94.4%) being successfully interviewed. Within cooperating households (where there was at least one interview) the interview rate was higher (98.8%).

A very important measure in longitudinal surveys is the annual individual re-interview rate. This is because a high attrition rate, where large numbers of respondents drop out of the survey over time, can call into question the quality of the data collected. In BiH the individual re-interview rates have been high for the survey. The individual re-interview rate is the proportion of people who gave an interview at time t-1 who also give an interview at t. Of those who gave a full interview at wave 2, 6653 also gave a full interview at wave 3. This represents a re-interview rate of 97.9% - which is extremely high by international standards. When we look at those respondents who have been interviewed at all three years of the survey there are 6409 cases which are available for longitudinal analysis, 2881 in the RS and 3528 in the FBiH. This represents 82.8% of the responding wave 1 sample, a

Description, Soil Type, and Farm Status:The Description and Farm Status come from the Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx) (Map Unit Name and farmland classification, respectively) while the Soil Type is a grouping of the different Descriptions to make a more reader friendly legend. The data for Essex County was downloaded March 3, 2023, while that for Caroline, King and Queen, and Middlesex Counties was downloaded August 23, 2023.Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (Ksat):The saturated hydraulic conductivity was obtained from the Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx) Custom Soil Resource report for Essex County, Virginia on May 24, 2023, and on August 23, 2023 for Caroline County, King and Queen County, and Middlesex County. The Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity (Ksat), Standard Classes were generated into a report, using the following settings. The Aggregation Method chosen was Dominant Component. The Component Percent Cutoff was left blank. The Tie Break Rule was Fastest. Interpret Nulls as Zero was set to No. The Layer Options (Horizon Aggregation Method) was set to All Layers (Weighted Average).The saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) is in units of micrometers per second. The Ksat classes were detailed in the generated report, and are as follows:Very Low: 0.00 to 0.01Low: 0.01 to 0.1Moderately Low: .1 to 1.0Moderately High: 1 to 10High: 10 to 100Very High: 100 to 705For more information about saturated hydraulic conductivity and how it is being used instead of permeability, please refer to 2-81 (page 125) of the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils Version 3.0 from the National Soil Survey Center of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, reprinted in 2021.Non-irrigated Capability Class:The non-irrigated capability class and class description are from the Natural Resources Conservation Service SSURGO data (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx). Data for Essex County was downloaded June 23, 2023, while the data for Caroline, King and Queen, and Middlesex Counties was downloaded July 5, 2023. The non-irrigated capability class is used by the Commissioner of the Revenue in land valuation calculations. The focus is on the soil use limitations.County Rep:The boundaries for Essex County in the web soil survey did not completely cover the extent of the county, so data from Caroline County, King and Queen County, and Middlesex County was also used. The CountyRep field is to show from which county that layer has come.Erodibility:Soil erodibility was obtained from the Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Highly Erodible Land Report for January 1990, republished in August 2002. The Erodibility classes were frozen in 1990.https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/conservation-by-state/virginia/countycity-highly-erodible-hel-soil-lists

Understanding Society (the UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

For details of the main Understanding Society study, please see study number 6614.

Innovation Panel

The Innovation Panel is designed for experimental and methodological research relevant to longitudinal surveys. As far as practical its design, content, and data collection procedures are similar to the main stage Understanding Society survey. It is a multi-topic household survey representative of the population of Great Britain. Data collection takes place annually using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), web surveys and telephone interviewing (CATI) to a small extent. One person completes the household questionnaire. Each person aged 16 or older answers the individual adult interview, including and self-completion questionnaire. Young people aged 10 to 15 years are asked to respond to a paper self-completion questionnaire. The Innovation Panel has multiple experimental studies in which households or individuals are randomly assigned to a particular instrument or survey procedure. Experiments can relate to survey procedures, questionnaire design, or substantive social science questions. The experiments are described in the User Manual and in Understanding Society Working Papers. Wave 12 included an experiment involving the collection of biomeasures by nurses, interviewers and respondents themselves. The biomeasures included in the experiment were: height, weight, blood pressure, venous and dried blood samples and hair samples. Biomarkers have been derived from the different blood and hair samples to compare analytes across sample types. Due to COVID-19 Waves 13 and 14 were implemented using computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) and web surveys. Wave 15 included additional data on body measurements. Respondents were asked to install the BodyVolume app on their smartphone or tablet (iOS or Android) and use it after the interview to take two photos of themselves. The app used the body outlines along with profile information that the respondent entered in the app (age, sex, height, weight, level of activity) to calculate measures including waist and hip circumference, total body fat, visceral body fat, and lengths of different body parts. Wave 16 included an experiment asking parents of children aged under 16 to supply health related information from the child’s red book. Respondents were also asked to install the Sea Hero Quest app and play a game that measures spatial cognition.

There are two primary versions of the Innovation Panel data. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement, and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version (available under SN 7083). The SL version contains month and year of birth variables in addition to age, county variables, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables; and various income variables have not been top-coded (see the documentation available with the SL version for more detail on the differences). In addition, there are a number of SL geographical datasets that are designed to be used in conjunction with the primary datasets. Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers are also available subject to SL access conditions and fine detail geographic data are available under more restrictive Secure Access conditions that contains British National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed.

Further information may be found on the Understanding Society main stage webpage and links to publications based on the study can be found on the Understanding Society Latest Research webpage.

Latest edition information

For the 13th edition (November 2024), Wave 16 has been deposited with accompanying documentation. All previous waves have also been redeposited with various corrections - see '7083_ip_waves_1-15_changes_collated.pdf' for details of the changes.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

Digital data from VG12-3, Gale, M., Kim. J., and Ruksznis, A., 2012, Bedrock Geologic Map of the essex Junction Quadrangle: Vermont Geological Survey Open File Report VG12-3, scale 1:24,000. Bedrock geologic map data at a scale of 1:24,000 depicts types of bedrock underlying unconsolidated materials in Vermont. Data is created by mapping on the ground using standard geologic pace and compass techniques and/or GPS on a USGS 1:24000 topographic base map. Data may be organized by town, quadrangle or watershed. Each data bundle may include point, line and polygon data and some or all of the following: 1) contacts (lithogic contacts), 2) fault_brittle, 3) fault_ductile, 4) fault_thrust, 5) fault_bed_plane (bedding plane thrust), 6) bedding, 7) bedding_graded (graded bedding) 8) bedding_overturn (overturned bedding), 9) bedding_select (selected points for published map), 10) foliation_n1, n2, n3 etc (foliation data), 11) outcrop (exposed outcrops), 12) field_station (outcrop and data collection point), 13) fold_axis, 14) axial_plane, 15) lamprophyre, 16) water_well_log (water well driller information), 16) linear_int (intersection lineation), 17) linear_str (stretching lineation) 18) x_section_line (line of cross-section), and photolinear (lineaments identified from air photos). Other feature classes may be included with each data bundle. (https://dec.vermont.gov/geological-survey/publication-gis/ofr).

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the Lewis town population distribution across 18 age groups. It lists the population in each age group along with the percentage population relative of the total population for Lewis town. The dataset can be utilized to understand the population distribution of Lewis town by age. For example, using this dataset, we can identify the largest age group in Lewis town.

Key observations

The largest age group in Lewis Town, Essex County, New York was for the group of age 55-59 years with a population of 134 (12.03%), according to the 2021 American Community Survey. At the same time, the smallest age group in Lewis Town, Essex County, New York was the 85+ years with a population of 1 (0.09%). Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2017-2021 5-Year Estimates.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2017-2021 5-Year Estimates.

Age groups:

• Under 5 years
• 5 to 9 years
• 10 to 14 years
• 15 to 19 years
• 20 to 24 years
• 25 to 29 years
• 30 to 34 years
• 35 to 39 years
• 40 to 44 years
• 45 to 49 years
• 50 to 54 years
• 55 to 59 years
• 60 to 64 years
• 65 to 69 years
• 70 to 74 years
• 75 to 79 years
• 80 to 84 years
• 85 years and over

Variables / Data Columns

• Age Group: This column displays the age group in consideration
• Population: The population for the specific age group in the Lewis town is shown in this column.
• % of Total Population: This column displays the population of each age group as a proportion of Lewis town total population. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Lewis town Population by Age. You can refer the same here

Understanding Society, (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

The Understanding Society: Calendar Year Dataset, 2022, is designed for analysts to conduct cross-sectional analysis for the 2022 calendar year. The Calendar Year datasets combine data collected in a specific year from across multiple waves and these are released as separate calendar year studies, with appropriate analysis weights, starting with the 2020 Calendar Year dataset. Each subsequent year, an additional yearly study is released.

The Calendar Year data is designed to enable timely cross-sectional analysis of individuals and households in a calendar year. Such analysis can, however, only involve variables that are collected in every wave (excluding rotating content, which is only collected in some of the waves). Due to overlapping fieldwork, the data files combine data collected in the three waves that make up a calendar year. Analysis cannot be restricted to data collected in one wave during a calendar year, as this subset will not be representative of the population. Further details and guidance on this study can be found in the document 9333_main_survey_calendar_year_user_guide_2022.

These calendar year datasets should be used for cross-sectional analysis only. For those interested in longitudinal analyses using Understanding Society please access the main survey datasets: End User Licence version or Special Licence version.

Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study, started in 2009 with a general population sample (GPS) of UK residents living in private households of around 26,000 households and an ethnic minority boost sample (EMBS) of 4,000 households. All members of these responding households and their descendants became part of the core sample who were eligible to be interviewed every year. Anyone who joined these households after this initial wave was also interviewed as long as they lived with these core sample members to provide the household context. At each annual interview, some basic demographic information was collected about every household member, information about the household is collected from one household member, all 16+-year-old household members are eligible for adult interviews, 10-15-year-old household members are eligible for youth interviews, and some information is collected about 0-9 year-olds from their parents or guardians. Since 1991 until 2008/9 a similar survey, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), was fielded. The surviving members of this survey sample were incorporated into Understanding Society in 2010. In 2015, an immigrant and ethnic minority boost sample (IEMBS) of around 2,500 households was added. In 2022, a GPS boost sample (GPS2) of around 5,700 households was added. To know more about the sample design, following rules, interview modes, incentives, consent, and questionnaire content, please see the study overview and user guide.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

End User Licence and Special Licence versions:

There are two versions of the Calendar Year 2022 data. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (SN 9333), and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 9334). The SL version contains month and year of birth variables instead of just age, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables and various income variables have not been top-coded (see document 9333_eul_vs_sl_variable_differences for more details). Users are advised first to obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements. The SL data have more restrictive access conditions; prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. The main longitudinal versions of the Understanding Society study may be found under SNs 6614 (EUL) and 6931 (SL).

Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers produced for the mainstage longitudinal dataset can be used with this Calendar Year 2022 dataset, subject to SL access conditions. See the User Guide for further details.

Suitable data analysis software

These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain about 1,800 variables.

Understanding Society (the UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

This release combines fourteen waves of Understanding Society data with harmonised data from all eighteen waves of the BHPS. As multi-topic studies, the purpose of Understanding Society and BHPS is to understand short- and long-term effects of social and economic change in the UK at the household and individual levels. The study has a strong emphasis on domains of family and social ties, employment, education, financial resources, and health. Understanding Society is an annual survey of each adult member of a nationally representative sample. The same individuals are re-interviewed in each wave approximately 12 months apart. When individuals move they are followed within the UK and anyone joining their households are also interviewed as long as they are living with them. The study has five sample components: the general population sample; a boost sample of ethnic minority group members; an immigrant and ethnic minority boost sample (from wave 6); participants from the BHPS; and a second general population boost sample added at this wave. In addition, there is the Understanding Society Innovation Panel (which is a separate standalone survey (see SN 6849)). The fieldwork period is for 24 months. Data collection uses computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and web interviews (from wave 7), and includes a telephone mop-up. From March 2020 (the end of wave 10 and the 2nd year of wave 11), due to the coronavirus pandemic, face-to-face interviews were suspended, and the survey was conducted by web and telephone only, but otherwise has continued as before. Face-to-face interviewing was resumed from April 2022. One person completes the household questionnaire. Each person aged 16 is invited to complete the individual adult interview and self-completed questionnaire. Parents are asked questions about their children under 10 years old. Youths aged 10 to 15 are asked to respond to a self-completion questionnaire. For the general and BHPS samples biomarker, genetic and epigenetic data are also available. The biomarker data, and summary genetics and epigenetic scores, are available via UKDS (see SN 7251); detailed genetics and epigenetics data are available by application (see below). In 2020-21 an additional frequent web survey was separately issued to sample members to capture data on the rapid changes in people’s lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see SN 8644). Participants are asked consent to link their data to wide-ranging administrative data sets (see below).

Further information may be found on the Understanding Society Main stage webpage and links to publications based on the study can be found on the Understanding Society Latest Research webpage.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

End User Licence, Special Licence and Secure Access versions:

There are three versions of the main Understanding Society data with different access conditions. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (SN 6614), one is a Special Licence (SL) version (this study) and the third is a Secure Access version (SN 6676). The SL version contains month as well as year of birth variables, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables, various income variables that have not been top-coded, and other potentially sensitive variables (see 6931_eul_vs_sl_variable_differences document available with the SL version for full details of the differences). The Secure Access version, in addition to containing all the variables in the SL version, also contains day of birth as well as Grid Reference geographical variables. Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements. The SL and Secure Access versions of the data have more restrictive access conditions and prospective users of those versions should visit the catalogue entries for SN 6931 and SN 6676 respectively for further information.

Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers are also available subject to SL access conditions; see SNs 6666, 6668-6675, 7453-4, 7629-30, 7245, 7248-9 and 9169-9170. Schools data are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 7182. Higher Education establishments for Wave 5 are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 8578. Interviewer Characteristics data, also subject to SL access conditions is available in SN 8579. In addition, a fine detail geographic dataset (SN 6676) is available under more restrictive Secure Access conditions that contains National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed, derived from ONS Postcode Directories (ONSPD). For details on how to make an application for Secure Access dataset, please see the SN 6676 catalogue record.

How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from Understanding Society:

Information on how to access genetics and epigenetics data directly from the study team is available on the Understanding Society Accessing data webpage.

Linked administrative data

Linked Understanding Society / administrative data are available on a number of different platforms. See the Understanding Society Data linkage webpage for details of those currently available and how they can be accessed.

Latest edition information

For the 18th edition (November 2024) Wave 14 data has been added. Other minor changes and corrections have also been made to Waves 1-13. Please refer to the revisions document for full details.

m_hhresp and n_hhresp files updated, December 2024

In the previous release (18th edition, November 2024), there was an issue with household income estimates in m_hhresp and n_hhresp where a household resides in a new local authority (approx. 300 households in wave 14). The issue has been corrected and imputation models re-estimated and imputed values updated for the full sample. Imputed values will therefore change compared to the versions in the original release. The variables affected are w_ficountax_dv, w_fihhmnnet3_dv, n_fihhmnnet4_dv and n_ctband_dv.

Suitable data analysis software

These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain over 2,047 variables.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.Understanding Society, (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and the survey research organisations Kantar Public and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991. This release combines thirteen waves of Understanding Society data with harmonised data from all eighteen waves of the BHPS. As multi-topic studies, the purpose of Understanding Society and BHPS is to understand the short- and long-term effects of social and economic change in the UK at the household and individual levels. The study has a strong emphasis on domains of family and social ties, employment, education, financial resources, and health. Understanding Society is an annual survey of each adult member of a nationally representative sample. The same individuals are re-interviewed in each wave approximately 12 months apart. When individuals move they are followed within the UK and anyone joining their households is also interviewed as long as they are living with them. The study has five sample components: the general population sample; a boost sample of ethnic minority group members; an immigrant and ethnic minority boost sample (from wave 6); participants from the BHPS; and the Innovation Panel (which is a separate standalone survey (see SN 6849). The fieldwork period is for 24 months. Data collection uses computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and web interviews (from wave 7) and includes a telephone mop-up. From March 2020 (the end of wave 10 and 2nd year of wave 11), due to the coronavirus pandemic, face-to-face interviews were suspended, and the survey has been conducted by web and telephone only but otherwise has continued as before. Face-to-face interviewing was resumed from April 2022. One person completes the household questionnaire. Each person aged 16 or older participates in the individual adult interview and self-completed questionnaire. Youths aged 10 to 15 are asked to respond to a self-completion questionnaire. For the general and BHPS samples biomarker, genetic and epigenetic data are also available. The biomarker data, and summary genetics and epigenetic scores, are available via UKDS (see SN 7251); detailed genetics and epigenetics data are available by application (see below). In 2020 an additional frequent web survey was separately issued to sample members to capture data on the rapid changes in people’s lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see SN 8644). Further information may be found on the Understanding Society main stage webpage and links to publications based on the study can be found on the Understanding Society Latest Research webpage. End User Licence, Special Licence and Secure Access versions:There are two versions of the main Understanding Society data. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement, and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version. The SL version contains additional month of birth variables, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables and various income variables have not been top-coded (see the documentation available with the SL version or the Understanding Society website for more detail on these and other differences). Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements. The SL data have more restrictive access conditions; prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. The SL versions of the main Understanding Society and Innovation Panel studies may be found under SNs 6931 and 7083 respectively. Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers are also available subject to SL access conditions; see SNs 6666, 6668-6675, 7453-4, 7629-30, 7245, 7248-9 and 9169-9170 (mainstage study) and 6908-6916, 7339, 7637-41, 9157 and 9159 (Innovation Panel). Schools data are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 7182. Higher Education establishments for Wave 5 are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 8578. Interviewer Characteristics data, also subject to SL access conditions is available in SN 8579. In addition, a fine detail geographic dataset (SN 6676) is available under more restrictive Secure Access conditions that contains British National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed, derived from the ONS National Statistics Postcode Directory (NSPD). For details on how to make an application for Secure Access dataset, please see the SN 6676 catalogue record. How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data : Information on how to access genetics and epigenetics data, directly from the study team, is available on the website: https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/health-assessment/accessing-data/genetics-application. Latest edition information For the 18th edition (November 2023), Wave 13 data and documentation have been added. Other minor changes and corrections have also been made to Waves 1-12. Please refer to the revisions document for full details. Suitable data analysis software These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain over 2,047 variables.

Understanding Society, (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

For details of the main Understanding Society study, please see study number 6614.

Innovation Panel

The Innovation Panel is designed for experimental and methodological research relevant to longitudinal surveys. As far as practical its design, content, and data collection procedures are similar to the main stage Understanding Society survey. It is a multi-topic household survey representative of the population of Great Britain. Data collection takes place annually using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), web surveys and telephone interviewing (CATI) to a small extent. One person completes the household questionnaire. Each person aged 16 or older answers the individual adult interview, including and self-completion questionnaire. Young people aged 10 to 15 years are asked to respond to a paper self-completion questionnaire. The Innovation Panel has multiple experimental studies in which households or individuals are randomly assigned to a particular instrument or survey procedure. Experiments can relate to survey procedures, questionnaire design, or substantive social science questions. The experiments are described in the User Manual and in Understanding Society Working Papers. Wave 12 included an experiment involving the collection of biomeasures by nurses, interviewers and respondents themselves. The biomeasures included in the experiment were: height, weight, blood pressure, venous and dried blood samples and hair samples. Biomarkers have been derived from the different blood and hair samples to compare analytes across sample types. Due to COVID-19 Waves 13 and 14 were implemented using computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) and web surveys. Wave 15 included additional data on body measurements. Respondents were asked to install the BodyVolume app on their smartphone or tablet (iOS or Android) and use it after the interview to take two photos of themselves. The app used the body outlines along with profile information that the respondent entered in the app (age, sex, height, weight, level of activity) to calculate measures including waist and hip circumference, total body fat, visceral body fat, and lengths of different body parts. Wave 16 included an experiment asking parents of children aged under 16 to supply health related information from the child’s red book. Respondents were also asked to install the Sea Hero Quest app and play a game that measures spatial cognition.

There are two primary versions of the Innovation Panel data. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement, and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version (available under SN 7083). The SL version contains month and year of birth variables in addition to age, county variables, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables; and various income variables have not been top-coded (see the documentation available with the SL version for more detail on the differences). In addition, there are a number of SL geographical datasets that are designed to be used in conjunction with the primary datasets. Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers are also available subject to SL access conditions and fine detail geographic data are available under more restrictive Secure Access conditions that contains British National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed.

Further information may be found on the Understanding Society main stage webpage and links to publications based on the study can be found on the Understanding Society Latest Research webpage.

Latest edition information

For the 13th edition (November 2024), Wave 16 has been deposited with accompanying documentation. All previous waves have also been redeposited with various corrections - see '6849_ip_waves_1-15_changes_collated.pdf' for details of the changes.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

Soil Survey PublicationsON 00 - Preliminary Soil Survey of Southwestern Ontario (1923)ON 02 - Soil Survey Report Elgin County (1929)ON 03 - Soil Survey Report Kent County (1930)ON 05 - Soil Survey Report Welland County (1935)ON 06 - Soil Survey Report Middlesex County (1931)ON 07 - Soil Survey Report Carleton County (1944)ON 08 - Reconnaissance Soil Survey of Parts of Northwestern Ontario (1944)ON 09 - Soil Survey Report Durham County (1946)ON 10 - Soil Survey Report Prince Edward County (1948)ON 11 - Soil Survey Report Essex County (1949)ON 12 - Soil Survey Report Grenville County (1949)ON 13 - Soil Survey Report Huron County (1952)ON 14 - Soil Survey Report Dundas County (1952)ON 15 - Soil Survey Report Perth County (1952)ON 16 - Soil Survey Report Bruce County (1954)ON 17 - Soil Survey Report Grey County (1954)ON 18 - Soil Survey Report Peel County (1953)ON 19 - Soil Survey Report York County (1955)ON 20 - Soil Survey Report Stormont County (1954)ON 21 - Soil Survey Report New Liskeard - Englehart Area (1952)ON 22 - Soil Survey Report Lambton County (1957)ON 23 - Soil Survey Report Ontario County (1956)ON 24 - Soil Survey Report Glengarry County (1957)ON 25 - Soil Survey Report Victoria County (1957)ON 26 - Soil Survey Report Manitoulin Island (1959)ON 27 - Soil Survey Report Hastings County (1962)ON 28 - Soil Survey Report Oxford County (1961)ON 28a - Soil Survey Report Oxford County Upgrade (1996)ON 29 - Soil Survey Report Simcoe County (1962)ON 30 - Soil Associations of Southern Ontario (1964)ON 31 - Soil Survey Report Parry Sound County (1962)ON 32 - Soil Survey Report Wentworth County (1965)ON 33 - Soil Survey Report Prescott Russell County (1962)ON 34 - Soil Survey Report Lincoln County (1963)ON 35 - Soil Survey Report Wellington County (1963)ON 36 - Soil Survey Report Lennox Addington County (1963)ON 37 - Soil Survey Report Renfrew County (1964)ON 38 - Soil Survey Report Dufferin County (1964)ON 39 - Soil Survey Report Frontenac County (1966)ON 40 - Soil Survey Report Lanark County (1967)ON 41 - Soil Survey Report Leeds County (1968)ON 42 - Soil Survey Report Northumberland County (1974)ON 43 - Soil Survey Report Halton County (1971)ON 44 - Soil Survey Report Waterloo County (1971)ON 44a - Soil Survey Report Waterloo County Upgrade (1996)ON 45 - Soil Survey Report Peterborough County (1981)ON 46 - Soils of Timmins-Noranda-Rouyn (1978) - MathesonON 46 - Soils of Timmins-Noranda-Rouyn (1978) - PamourON 46 - Soils of Timmins-Noranda-Rouyn (1978) - TimminsON 46 - Soils of Timmins-Noranda-Rouyn (1978) - Iroquois FallsON 46 - Soils of Timmins-Noranda-Rouyn (1978) - Kirkland LakeON 46 - Soils of Timmins-Noranda-Rouyn (1978) - Porquis JunctionON 46 - Soils of Timmins-Noranda-Rouyn (1978) - Timmins / Noranda / Rouyn AreaON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - Jarvis RiverON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - LoonON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - ParthON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - SunshineON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - Thunder BayON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - Thunder Bay AreaON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - Kakabeka FallsON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - Onion LakeON 48 - Soils of Thunder Bay Area (1981) - Pigeon RiverON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - CapreolON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - ChelmsfordON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - ConistonON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - Copper CliffON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - EspanolaON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - Lake TemagamiON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - MilnetON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - NoelvilleON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - SudburyON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - VernerON 49 - Soils of Sudbury Area (1983) - Whitefish FallsON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - AlgomaON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - Blind River - Sault Ste Marie AreaON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - Bruce MinesON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - Dean LakeON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - Ile ParisienneON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - Iron BridgeON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - MadawansonON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - Pancake BayON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - Sault Ste MarieON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - SearchmountON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - SpanishON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - St. Joseph IslandON 50 - Soils of Blind River - Sault Ste Marie Area (1983) - Whisky LakeON 51 - Soils of Fort Frances - Rainy River Area (1984) - Arbor VitaeON 51 - Soils of Fort Frances - Rainy River Area (1984) - EmoON 51 - Soils of Fort Frances - Rainy River Area (1984) - Fort FrancesON 51 - Soils of Fort Frances - Rainy River Area (1984) - Fort Frances - Rainy River AreaON 51 - Soils of Fort Frances - Rainy River Area (1984) - Northwest BayON 51 - Soils of Fort Frances - Rainy River Area (1984) - Rainy RiverON 52 - Soils of Kenora-Dryden-Pointe Du Bois Area (1987) - Crowduck LakeON 52 - Soils of Kenora-Dryden-Pointe Du Bois Area (1987) - DrydenON 52 - Soils of Kenora-Dryden-Pointe Du Bois Area (1987) - KeewatinON 52 - Soils of Kenora-Dryden-Pointe Du Bois Area (1987) - Vermilion BayON 53 - Soils of Pukaskwa National Park (1985) - PukaskwaON 54 - Soils of North Bay Area (1986) - KioskON 54 - Soils of North Bay Area (1986) - Marten LakeON 54 - Soils of North Bay Area (1986) - MattawaON 54 - Soils of North Bay Area (1986) - North BayON 54 - Soils of North Bay Area (1986) - PowassonON 54 - Soils of North Bay Area (1986) - Sturgeon FallsON 54 - Soils of North Bay Area (1986) - TemiscamingON 55 - Soil Survey Report Brant County (1989)ON 56 - Soil Survey Report Middlesex County (1992)ON 57 - Soil Survey Report Regional Municipality Haldimand Norfolk (1984)ON 58 - Soil Survey Report Regional Municipality Ottawa Carleton (1987)ON 59 - Soils of Gogama Area (1986) - CharltonON 59 - Soils of Gogama Area (1986) - ElkON 59 - Soils of Gogama Area (1986) - GogamaON 60 - Soil Survey Report Regional Municipality Niagara (1989)ON 61 - Soil Survey Report Chapleau Foleyet (1984)ON 63 - Soil Survey Report Elgin County (1992)ON 64 - Soil Survey Report Kent County Upgrade (1994)ON 90 - Soil Survey Report Ville Marie (1990)ON 98 - Location and Extent of the Soils of Southern Ontario (1998)

Understanding Society (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, and the survey research organisations Verian Group and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

For details of the main Understanding Society study, please see study number 6614.

Innovation Panel

The Innovation Panel is designed for experimental and methodological research relevant to longitudinal surveys. As far as practical its design, content, and data collection procedures are similar to the main stage Understanding Society survey. It is a multi-topic household survey representative of the population of Great Britain. Data collection takes place annually using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), web surveys and telephone interviewing (CATI) to a small extent. One person completes the household questionnaire. Each person aged 16 or older answers the individual adult interview, including and self-completion questionnaire. Young people aged 10 to 15 years are asked to respond to a paper self-completion questionnaire. The Innovation Panel has multiple experimental studies in which households or individuals are randomly assigned to a particular instrument or survey procedure. Experiments can relate to survey procedures, questionnaire design, or substantive social science questions. The experiments are described in the User Manual and in Understanding Society Working Papers. Wave 12 included an experiment involving the collection of biomeasures by nurses, interviewers and respondents themselves. The biomeasures included in the experiment were: height, weight, blood pressure, venous and dried blood samples and hair samples. Biomarkers have been derived from the different blood and hair samples to compare analytes across sample types. Due to COVID-19 Waves 13 and 14 were implemented using computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) and web surveys. Wave 15 included additional data on body measurements. Respondents were asked to install the BodyVolume app on their smartphone or tablet (iOS or Android) and use it after the interview to take two photos of themselves. The app used the body outlines along with profile information that the respondent entered in the app (age, sex, height, weight, level of activity) to calculate measures including waist and hip circumference, total body fat, visceral body fat, and lengths of different body parts. Wave 16 included an experiment asking parents of children aged under 16 to supply health related information from the child’s red book. Respondents were also asked to install the Sea Hero Quest app and play a game that measures spatial cognition.

Secure Access Dataset:

The Understanding Society: Innovation Panel, Waves 1-16, 2008-2023 dataset contains British National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for each household surveyed, derived from the ONS National Statistics Postcode Directories (NSPD). Grid references are presented in terms of Eastings and Northings, which are distances in metres (east and north, respectively) from the origin (0,0), which lies to the west of the Scilly Isles. Each grid reference is given a positional quality indicator to denote the accuracy of the grid reference. In the majority of cases, the assigned grid reference relates to the building of the matched address closest to the postcode mean. No grid references are provided for postcodes in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

The Secure Access version of Understanding Society: Innovation Panel 2008-2023 includes all files in the Special Licence version, plus files containing the 3 variables relating to the National Grid Reference for each household: Easting, Northing and positional quality indicator (OSGRDIND). All other files are the same as in the Special Licence version, which is held under SN 7083.

Related UK Data Archive studies:

The Secure Access version of the dataset has more restrictive access conditions than standard End User Licence or Special Licence access datasets (see 'Access' section). Further details and links to the less restrictive versions can be found on the Understanding Society series Key data page.

Latest edition information

For the 11th edition (November 2024), Wave 16 has been deposited with accompanying documentation. All previous waves have also been redeposited with various corrections - see '7332_ip_waves_1-15_changes_collated.pdf' for details of the changes.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

Understanding Society, (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

This is a teaching resource for those who are new to data analysis. It is a step-by-step guide starting from exploring a survey, understanding the structure of the survey data and then using the data to do some simple exercises to measure differences in health and wellbeing across ethnic groups. The survey used here is Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study which interviews individuals in the sampled households every year. To make it easier to use the teaching dataset accompanying this teaching resource only includes responses given by adults (16+ year olds) during the first interview to questions about ethnicity, health and wellbeing and some key socio-demographic characteristics such as age, sex, education, income, labour market status etc. The statistical software used to construct the dataset is Stata, but it is also available to download in SPSS and tab-delimited text formats.

Nandi, Alita and Wiltshire, Deborah. (2019). "Teaching Resource: Analysing ethnic differences in health using data from Understanding Society".

For information on the main Understanding Society study, see SN 6614, Understanding Society and Harmonised BHPS.

Latest edition information
For the second edition (August 2020), updated data and documentation files were deposited.

Acest set de date identifică zonele în care adăugarea de noi iazuri ar aduce beneficii populațiilor de Great Crested Newt.

Zonele de bază conțin o densitate a iazurilor de 2 + iazuri și sunt situate într-un pătrat de 1 km unde a fost prezisă o prezență mare de triton crestat.

Zonele de frecare conțin o densitate a iazului de 1 și sunt situate într-un pătrat de 1 km unde a fost prezisă o prezență mare de triton crestat sau se află la o distanță de 250 m de o zonă de bază.

Scorurile mai mari sunt asociate cu o culoare mai închisă și reprezintă o prezență mai mare a caracteristicilor adecvate ale habitatului: densitatea pajiștilor 10-50 % densitatea suprafețelor împădurite 10-60 % Distanța față de râuri <1500m Shannon Weaver Diversitate -1,5 până la -0,6 Aceste caracteristici adecvate ale habitatului au primit un punctaj de „1”.

Terenurile arabile (densitate 50-100 %) au primit un punctaj de „-1”. Zonele urbane mai mari de 2 ha (+400 m tampon), drumurile (7,5 m), râurile (7,5 m) și zona de inundații 2 a Agenției de Mediu au fost excluse. Declarație de atribuire: © Anglia naturală, 2022 Bazat pe LCM2015 © NERC (CEH) 2011.Conține date Ordnance Survey © Crown Copyright 2007. Bazat pe LCM2015 © NERC (CEH) 2017.Conține datele Ordnance Survey © Crown Copyright 2007, Numărul licenței 100017572. Date privind solurile © Universitatea Cranfield (NSRI) și pentru operatorul HMSO 2019. Bazat pe LCM2007 © NERC (CEH) 2011. Conține date Ordnance Survey © Crown Copyright 2007. © licențiatori terți.Conține sau este derivat din informațiile furnizate de Agenția pentru Anchete și Plăți Rurale (Ordnance Survey and Rural Payments Agency). © Crown drepturi de autor și drepturi asupra bazelor de date 2019. © Freshwater Habitats Trust, schema de monitorizare PondNet, 2018 © Parteneriatul Essex Recorders, 2018 Conține date furnizate de: Consiliul comitatului Essex © Consiliul comitatului Essex 2019 Ordnance Survey 100019602; Consiliul districtului Basildon © Consiliul districtului Basildon 2019 Ordnance Survey 100018871; Consiliul districtual Braintree © Consiliul districtual Braintree 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018490; Consiliul local Brentwood © Consiliul local Brentwood 2019; Consiliul local Castle Point © Consiliul local Castle Point 2019; Consiliul Local Chelmsford © Consiliul Local Chelmsford 2019, Ordnance Survey 100023562; Consiliul local Colchester © Consiliul local Colchester 2019, Ordnance Survey 100023706; Consiliul districtului forestier Epping © Consiliul districtului forestier Epping 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018534; Consiliul Harlow © Consiliul Harlow 2019, Ordnance Survey 100019627; Consiliul raional Maldon © Consiliul raional Maldon 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018599; Consiliul districtual Rochford © Consiliul districtual Rochford 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018109; Consiliul districtual Tendring © Consiliul districtual Tendring 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018684;Consiliul Thurrock © Consiliul Thurrock 2019, Ordnance Survey 100025457; Consiliul districtual Uttlesford © Consiliul districtual Uttlesford 2019, Ordnance Survey 100018688. © Agenția de Mediu, drepturi de autor și/sau drepturi asupra bazei de date 2018. Toate drepturile rezervate.Unele caracteristici ale acestei hărți se bazează pe date spațiale digitale furnizate de Centrul pentru Ecologie și Hidrologie, © NERC (CEH). © Crown drepturi de autor și drepturi asupra bazelor de date 2018 Ordnance Survey 100024198. Conține sau este derivat din informațiile furnizate de Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright and database rights 2020 Ordnance Survey 100022021 (în limba engleză).

Conține date Ordnance Survey © Crown copyright and database right, 2020

Understanding Society, (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

This release combines fourteen waves of Understanding Society data with harmonised data from all eighteen waves of the BHPS. As multi-topic studies, the purpose of Understanding Society and BHPS is to understand short- and long-term effects of social and economic change in the UK at the household and individual levels. The study has a strong emphasis on domains of family and social ties, employment, education, financial resources, and health. Understanding Society is an annual survey of each adult member of a nationally representative sample. The same individuals are re-interviewed in each wave approximately 12 months apart. When individuals move they are followed within the UK and anyone joining their households are also interviewed as long as they are living with them. The study has five sample components: the general population sample; a boost sample of ethnic minority group members; an immigrant and ethnic minority boost sample (from wave 6); participants from the BHPS; and a second general population boost sample added at this wave. In addition, there is the Understanding Society Innovation Panel (which is a separate standalone survey (see SN 6849)). The fieldwork period is for 24 months. Data collection uses computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and web interviews (from wave 7), and includes a telephone mop-up. From March 2020 (the end of wave 10 and the 2nd year of wave 11), due to the coronavirus pandemic, face-to-face interviews were suspended, and the survey was conducted by web and telephone only, but otherwise has continued as before. Face-to-face interviewing was resumed from April 2022. One person completes the household questionnaire. Each person aged 16 is invited to complete the individual adult interview and self-completed questionnaire. Parents are asked questions about their children under 10 years old. Youths aged 10 to 15 are asked to respond to a self-completion questionnaire. For the general and BHPS samples biomarker, genetic and epigenetic data are also available. The biomarker data, and summary genetics and epigenetic scores, are available via UKDS (see SN 7251); detailed genetics and epigenetics data are available by application (see below). In 2020-21 an additional frequent web survey was separately issued to sample members to capture data on the rapid changes in people’s lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see SN 8644). Participants are asked consent to link their data to wide-ranging administrative data sets (see below).

Further information may be found on the Understanding Society Main stage webpage and links to publications based on the study can be found on the Understanding Society Latest Research webpage.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

End User Licence, Special Licence and Secure Access versions:

There are three versions of the main Understanding Society data with different access conditions. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (this study), one is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 6931) and the third is a Secure Access version (SN 6676). The SL version contains month as well as year of birth variables, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables, various income variables that have not been top-coded, and other potentially sensitive variables (see 6931_eul_vs_sl_variable_differences document available with the SL version for full details of the differences). The Secure Access version, in addition to containing all the variables in the SL version, also contains day of birth as well as Grid Reference geographical variables. Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements. The SL and Secure Access versions of the data have more restrictive access conditions and prospective users of those versions should visit the catalogue entries for SN 6931 and SN 6676 respectively for further information.

Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers are also available subject to SL access conditions; see SNs 6666, 6668-6675, 7453-4, 7629-30, 7245, 7248-9 and 9169-9170. Schools data are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 7182. Higher Education establishments for Wave 5 are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 8578. Interviewer Characteristics data, also subject to SL access conditions is available in SN 8579. In addition, a fine detail geographic dataset (SN 6676) is available under more restrictive Secure Access conditions that contains National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed, derived from ONS Postcode Directories (ONSPD). For details on how to make an application for Secure Access dataset, please see the SN 6676 catalogue record.

How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from Understanding Society:

Information on how to access genetics and epigenetics data directly from the study team is available on the Understanding Society Accessing data webpage.

Linked administrative data

Linked Understanding Society / administrative data are available on a number of different platforms. See the Understanding Society Data linkage webpage for details of those currently available and how they can be accessed.

Latest edition information

For the 19th edition (November 2024) Wave 14 data has been added. Other minor changes and corrections have also been made to Waves 1-13. Please refer to the revisions document for full details.

m_hhresp and n_hhresp files updated, December 2024

In the previous release (19th edition, November 2024), there was an issue with household income estimates in m_hhresp and n_hhresp where a household resides in a new local authority (approx. 300 households in wave 14). The issue has been corrected and imputation models re-estimated and imputed values updated for the full sample. Imputed values will therefore change compared to the versions in the original release. The variable affected is n_ctband_dv.

Suitable data analysis software

These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain over 2,047 variables.

Understanding Society (the UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

The Understanding Society: Calendar Year Dataset, 2022: Special Licence Access, is designed for analysts to conduct cross-sectional analysis for the 2022 calendar year. The Calendar Year datasets combine data collected in a specific year from across multiple waves and these are released as separate calendar year studies, with appropriate analysis weights, starting with the 2020 Calendar Year dataset. Each subsequent year, an additional yearly study is released.

The Calendar Year data is designed to enable timely cross-sectional analysis of individuals and households in a calendar year. Such analysis can however, only involve variables that are collected in every wave (excluding rotating content which is only collected in some of the waves). Due to overlapping fieldwork the data files combine data collected in the three waves that make up a calendar year. Analysis cannot be restricted to data collected in one wave during a calendar year, as this subset will not be representative of the population. Further details and guidance on this study can be found in the document 9334_main_survey_calendar_year_user_guide_2022.

These calendar year datasets should be used for cross-sectional analysis only. For those interested in longitudinal analyses using Understanding Society please access the main survey datasets: End User Licence version or Special Licence version.

Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study, started in 2009 with a general population sample (GPS) of UK residents living in private households of around 26,000 households and an ethnic minority boost sample (EMBS) of 4,000 households. All members of these responding households and their descendants became part of the core sample who were eligible to be interviewed every year. Anyone who joined these households after this initial wave, were also interviewed as long as they lived with these core sample members to provide the household context. At each annual interview, some basic demographic information was collected about every household member, information about the household is collected from one household member, all 16+ year old household members are eligible for adult interviews, 10-15 year old household members are eligible for youth interviews, and some information is collected about 0-9 year olds from their parents or guardians. Since 1991 until 2008/9 a similar survey, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), was fielded. The surviving members of this survey sample were incorporated into Understanding Society in 2010. In 2015, an immigrant and ethnic minority boost sample (IEMBS) of around 2,500 households was added. In 2022 a GPS boost sample (GPS2) of around 5,700 households was added. To know more about the sample design, following rules, interview modes, incentives, consent, questionnaire content please see the study overview and user guide.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

End User Licence and Special Licence versions:

There are two versions of the Calendar Year 2022 data. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (SN 9333), and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 9334). The SL version contains month and year of birth variables instead of just age, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables and various income variables have not been top-coded (see 9334_eul_vs_sl_variable_differences for more details). Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements. The SL data have more restrictive access conditions; prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. The main longitudinal versions of the Understanding Society study may be found under SNs 6614 (EUL) and 6931 (SL).

Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers produced for the mainstage longitudinal dataset can be used with this Calendar Year 2022 dataset, subject to SL access conditions. See the User Guide for further details.

Suitable data analysis software

These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain about 1,800 variables.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Main Topics:

Attitudinal/Behavioural Questions
Attention to newspapers and television, interest in campaign, perceived difference between parties, attitude towards election. Knowledge, perception of party position/record, and own opinion on: rising prices, strikes in general, the miners' strike, taxation, the Common Market, social services, nationalisation, wage control. Opinion on amount of power held by unions/big business. Vote in 1974 and second choice, timing of voting decision, strength of party preference, party identification. Respondents were asked to give marks out of ten to political parties and personalities. Effect of governments on respondent's well-being. Prediction for Britain's economy. Perceived bias in newspapers. Likes/dislikes of Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties. Perception of class conflict and differences.
Background Variables
Age, sex, marital status, place of residence during childhood, subjective class, forced subjective class, family class. Tenure, type and length of residence. Employment status, degree of responsibility in and training for job (for respondent and spouse). Experience of unemployment in household, income. Trade union membership (respondent and spouse) socio-economic group.