Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study

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Understanding Society the UK Household
Longitudinal Study
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Background

• Understanding Society is a longitudinal study
  based on a household panel design
• Basic design similar to that of British Household
  Panel Survey, which it will replace.
• Target sample size of 40,000 households largest
  HPS
• Main fieldwork due to start in January 2009

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Developments so far

• ESRC secured funding for Understanding Society
  from Large Science Facilities fund (normally for
  physical science infrastructure), Spring 2006
• November 2006 March 2007, commissioning of
  principal investigator team
• From April 2007, PI team starts work with
  consultation and commission survey organisation
• September 2007, NatCen selected to deliver the
  survey.
• January 2008, Innovation panel survey of 1500
  households starts

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Household panel study design

• Start with a sample of addresses, all members of
  private households found will be sample members.
• At each wave all sample members above a threshold
  age eligible for interview.
• Other individuals who form households with sample
  members after wave 1 eligible for interview.
• A longitudinal sample of individuals representing
  the whole population, and interviewed within a
  household context.
• Individuals followed as they move and form new
  households.
• Following rules mean that the study remains
  representative of the population as it changes,
  subject to weighting and except for new
  immigrants to the UK.

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Importance of the Household focus

• Strength of the HPS model shown by range of
  studies internationally (e.g. PSID, SOEP, HILDA)
• Important for research on e.g.
• consumption and income, where within-household
  sharing of resources is important,
• demographic change, where the household itself is
  often the object of study.
• Can investigate family factors in decision making
• Observing multiple generations allows examination
  of long-term transmission processes
• Comparative analysis of sibling outcomes
• Opportunities to explore linkages outside the
  household

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Key features of Understanding Society

• Large sample size proposed
• Representative sample of whole population (all
  ages)
• Multi-purpose multi-topic design to meet a wide
  range of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary
  research needs
• Ethnic minority research
• Research linking social and biomedical sciences
• Innovation in data collection methods

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Managing innovation in a longitudinal study

• Timetable does not permit long lead-in to develop
  new method and new content
• Starting in an appropriately conservative manner
  to ensure that the study is properly established
• But ensure that there is scope for significant
  innovation as the study develops
• Understanding Society is intended as study over
  several decades new research issues and new
  research methods are unpredictable

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Understanding Society sample consists of

• A new equal probability main panel achieved
  sample of around 27,000 households. The
  fieldwork for this sample will commence in
  January 2009
• A boost ethnic minority sample, focussed on five
  main ethnic minority groups, comprising 4,000
  households
• The BHPS sample of approximately 8,400
  households. BHPS sample data collection as part
  of the Understanding Society will start with wave
  2 in October 2009
• An Innovation Panel of 1500 households to enable
  methodological research. The fieldwork for the
  Innovation Panel will commence in January 2008.

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Role of the Innovation Panel

• 1,500 household panel, taking place one year
  ahead of main stage
• Role is to allow experimentation and
  methodological development
• For first 2 waves used to explore mixed mode
  strategy and impacts on attrition / question
  response
• Later for new data collection methods and
  innovative content, e.g. web, diaries, biomarkers
  and health measurement, etc

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Data collection plan

• 12 month intervals between interviews
• Continuous fieldwork over 24 month field period,
  with second wave overlapping with first
• Face-to-face interview at wave 1 mixed mode at
  wave 2, 20 face to face only
• Individual interview not more than 30 minutes
  interview administered, plus self completion and
  consents to link data
• Some data collection by self completion from
  children aged 10-15 from wave 1

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Wave 1 content

• Annual repeating measures
• Initial conditions and life history, asked once
  only
• Rotating and intermittent measures first
  introduced at wave 1
• Young persons questionnaire for sample members
  aged 10-15

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Long term content plans

• Annual content carried forward from wave 1 (lt
  50 of content)
• New annual content event histories over past
  year, follow-up questions from event or change of
  status, age specific modules
• Relatively stable characteristics measured
  occasionally
• Other intermittent modules repeated every 2/3
  years
• Scope for including emerging issues

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BHPS and Understanding Society

• At wave 2 of Understanding Society (wave 19 of
  BHPS), the BHPS sample will become part of
  Understanding Society
• Expected that BHPS will use new questionnaire
  from that point (with very limited modification
  to preserve some measurement continuity)
• Development process recognised importance of
  comparability with BHPS so likely to be
  significant use of BHPS questions in
  Understanding Society
• But, likely that a high proportion of BHPS
  questions will not be included, or will be asked
  less frequently

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Opportunities

• Starting again, compared with BHPS, an
  opportunity to review activities and see which
  are worthwhile to continue, which not
• Focus on new research issues
• Opportunities for mixed methods
• Data linkage administrative, organisation,
  spatial
• Bio-markers and health indicators
• Qualitative data
• Other non-standard data diaries, visual, audio
• Use of different modes
• E.g. web to collect data with higher frequency
• Experiment with new technology as it is
  introduced
• Overall aim to build a robust survey structure
  within which can experiment and innovate while
  minimising risk