Understanding Society: (2009+) (United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study; UKHLS)
- URL
- https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/series/series?id=2000053
- Description
-
Multi-topic longitudinal household survey whose purpose is to understand social & economic change in Britain at the household & individual levels. Has 4 sample components: the General Population component, the Innovation Panel, a boost sample of ethnic minority group members, and participants in the former British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The household questionnaire includes a composition listing of all household members and collects information about gender, date of birth, marital and employment status, and relationship to the household respondent. Questions about housing, mortgage or rent payments, material deprivation, and consumer durables & cars are also included. The individual interview is asked of every person in the household aged 16 or over, and covers: demographics, baseline information, family background, ethnicity and language use; migration, partnership and fertility histories; health, disability and caring; current employment and earnings; employment status (for persons interviewed January-June); parenting and childcare arrangements; family networks; benefit payments; political party identification; household finances; environmental behaviors; consents to administrative data linkage. A proxy module, a much shortened version of the individual questionnaire, collects demographic, health, and employment information, as well as a summary income measure. The adult self-completion questionnaire includes subjective questions, particularly those which are potentially sensitive or require more privacy. It covers feelings of depression and well-being, sleep behavior, environmental attitudes and beliefs, neighborhood participation and belonging, life satisfaction, activities with partner and relationship quality. The youth self-completion questionnaire, given to children aged 10-15 years in the household, covers computer and technology use, family support, sibling relationships, feelings about areas of life, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, health behaviors, smoking and drinking, and aspirations.
Understanding Society is built on the successful British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) which ran from 1991-2009 and had around 10,000 households in it. Understanding Society started in 2009 and interviewed around 40,000 households, including around 8,000 of the orginal BHPS households. The inclusion of the BHPS households allows researchers and policy makers to track the lives of these households from 1991.
From April 2020 participants from the main Understanding Society sample have been asked to complete a short web-survey. This survey covers the changing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the welfare of UK individuals, families and wider communities. Participants complete a regular survey, which includes core content designed to track changes, alongside variable content adapted as the coronavirus situation develops.
Understanding Society: Innovation Panel Twitter Study, 2007-2023 is included. At Wave 10 of the Innovation Panel (IP) (SN 6849), conducted in 2017, respondents were asked for permission to link their Twitter data to their survey responses. This study consists of the Twitter data collected from consenting respondents and corresponding data retrieved through the Twitter Application Programming Interface (API) for them covering the period between June 2007 and February 2023.
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- Sample
- Format
- Series - ongoing
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Title
- Understanding Society: (2009+) (United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study; UKHLS)
- Format
- Series - ongoing