Understanding Society is a world leading study of the socio-economic circumstances and attitudes of individuals in 40,000 British households.

This world-class survey, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and run by the survey team at ISER, was launched in 2008 and the very first interviews took place in January 2009.

Replacing and assimilating the well-used British Household Panel Survey, Understanding Society made its first set of data available to researchers in December 2010 via the Economic and Social Data Service.

Understanding Society has its own dedicated website, with lots of background information on how the survey is designed, managed and run, details of the methodological research behind the survey and research findings that use the data. There is also a dedicated website for people who take part in the survey.