Longitudinal research using the UK’s household survey Understanding Society reaches another major milestone today with the release of the survey’s second full set of data.
The second wave of the survey, which is run by a team at ISER, contains interviews with 54,600 adults and 5000 children aged 10-15) in 30,500 thousand households across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It includes some new questions about health-related behaviours (exercise, nutrition, alcohol consumption), more detailed questions about people’ work conditions, their sense of identity, volunteering and charitable giving as well as about participation in sport and cultural activities.
Today’s data release marks a significant point in the study’s development, as its Director, Professor Nick Buck explains:
“With Waves 1 and 2 of the survey available to researchers, the serious business of longitudinal research can now begin. Now the survey can be looked at in earnest to see how people’s circumstances and views have changed from one year to the next.
“In that respect this is a very important day, not just for the study and all the people who work on it and take part, but an important one for society as a whole.”
One of the most interesting features of today’s release is the first interviews with participants who previously took part in the influential British Household Panel Survey (BHPS).* Researchers can also now look at two waves of the ethnic minority boost sample of some 6000 adults from a range of minority backgrounds. This makes it the first ever UK survey where it is possible to investigate year on year change across ethnic groups – another important milestone for the study.
Understanding Society interviews all members of the households aged 10 and over every year. Wave 2 interviews were carried out across a two-year period from 2010-2011.
Since the release of Wave 1 data in 2011, there have been 1683 (or 665 unique users) downloads of the data from the Economic and Social Data Service, which stores the information securely on behalf of the study. With longitudinal research now a reality, it is anticipated there will be even greater interest in the survey.
High profile uses of the survey in recent months have included its use in the Office for National Statistics Life in the UK 2012 report looking at national wellbeing and the launch of a new poverty measurement model by the think-tank Demos.
The Understanding Society team, based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, is also preparing to publish its third set of findings in the Spring, which will make use of some of the newly-released data.
Additional health data (weight, height, blood pressure, grip strength) collected from 20,000 of the survey’s participants in Wave 2 are set to be released in Spring 2013, which will bring another important dimension to the survey and the research opportunities it can provide going forward.
Data release coincides with the launch of a new website for the survey, providing a wide range of information including guides on some of the survey’s key features, a new podcast series and a comprehensive search facility.
Useful notes
The BHPS has 18 Waves of annual data collected since 1991. More than 6,000 of its participants joined Understanding Society from Wave 2. Researchers can isolate this sample to look at this group of participants across 19 Waves.