The Understanding Society Annual Report for 2021 is published today, giving an overview of a selection of the achievements of the Study over the 12 months of 2021. The year saw an increase in the number of data downloads and the number of researchers using the datasets. More data users received training and support from the Study and there was important policy use for the Study too.
The Annual Report is based on the key benefits of Understanding Society, identified by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) at the very start of the Study in 2009. These benefits include increasing the number of users of the Study, supporting the development of social science in the UK, and developing new forms of survey methodology. We are pleased to report that in 2021 Understanding Society met, or exceeded, the key benefits marking the success of the Study.
Key successes from 2021:
- Understanding Society has been used by over 34,600 researchers in the ten years between 2011 and 2021.
- In 2021, over 4,000 researchers used Understanding Society for the first time.
- Over 300 data users received training from Understanding Society in 2021 and over 270 used our online training courses.
- From the start of the Study in 2009 to the end of 2021, over 10,000 publications have used data from Understanding Society.
- The top subjects for publications based on the Study are health and health behaviours, household finances, families, and employment. But the Study is used by diverse disciplines including civil engineering, history, computer science, and philosophy.
The Covid pandemic was still being experienced in 2021, so the Annual Report includes information on response rates over the year, plus the online events, training and support that was put in place to help researchers who were working remotely. Methodological work continued at pace during 2021, with experiments on maximising response rates, creating a new boost sample and new work on couples living apart. The Annual Report also includes how the Study has been used for policymaking and a selection of the research papers that have come out in 2021.
Director of Understanding Society, Professor Michaela Benzeval, said, “2021 was an incredibly busy year for Understanding Society and our data users. We released data for Wave 11 of our main survey, Wave 13 of our Innovation Panel, our completed COVID-19 survey, plus linked data and new teaching datasets. It’s fantastic to see how our many data users have responded to the new data and to see the innovative research that is coming from the Study. We’re very grateful for the support of the ESRC and government departments as the Study continues to expand – we hope that 2022 will be just as positive.”
Simon Briscoe, Chair of Understanding Society’s Strategic Oversight Board, said, “As you read this report you will see many successes. Everyone will have their favourites, but to see both a continuing increase in the number of people using the data and it delivering important policy impact (on, for example, the tracking of household finances following the pandemic or for the advice on vaccinating children), suggests that good use is being made of the Study. The last two years have demonstrated that good quality, timely data is worth its weight in gold, so I thank the participants for their continued engagement – it really matters”
Read the report here