General Household Survey

Last updated

The General Household Survey (GHS) was a survey conducted of private households in Great Britain by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The aim of this survey was to provide government departments and organisations with information on a range of topics concerning private households for monitoring and policy purposes. [1]

Contents

The Survey was last run in 2007. Thereafter, its questions were taken over by the General Lifestyle Survey, which was in turn ended in January 2012. [2]

History

The GHS has been carried out continuously between 1971 and 2007 except for two breaks in 1997-1998 and in 1999-2000 when the survey was reviewed and redeveloped. From 2000 onwards, the design has been changed and, at the time of its termination, the survey had two different elements: The continuous survey, which remained unchanged over a five-year period, and extra modules called "trailers". [3] This structure allowed different trailers to be included each year, depending on what information the sponsoring government departments require.

In 2005, further changes were introduced and the time period in which the survey is conducted was changed from the financial year (April to March) to the calendar year (January to December). Additionally, the design was changed to a longitudinal survey in 2005-2006 because the European Union (EU) required all member states to collect extra data from a Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). [4]

The topics included in the questionnaire covered general information such as demographic information about household members, housing tenure, consumer durables including vehicle ownership and migration. The individual questionnaires, completed by all adults over 16 years of age resident in a household, also included issues such as employment, pensions, education, health, smoking and drinking, family information and income.

Methodology and scope

The GHS was a repeated cross-sectional study, conducted annually, which uses a sample of 9,731 households in the 2006 survey. The data were primarily collected by face-to-face interviews as well as telephone interviews.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survey of Income and Program Participation</span> Census survey

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a statistical survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The SIPP is designed to provide accurate and comprehensive information about the incomes of American individuals and households and their participation in income transfer programs.

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is one of the United Kingdom's largest household surveys. It is carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) on an annual basis, by collecting information on the incomes and characteristics of private households in the United Kingdom. It is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime Survey for England and Wales</span>

The Crime Survey for England and Wales is a systematic victim study, currently carried out by Kantar Public on behalf of the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Curated by the UK Data Service, it can be accessed for research on their website: https://ukdataservice.ac.uk. The survey seeks to measure the amount of crime in England and Wales by asking around 50,000 people aged 16 and over, living in private households, about the crimes they have experienced in the last year. From January 2009, 4,000 interviews were also conducted each year with children 10–15 years old, although the resulting statistics remain experimental. The survey is comparable to the National Crime Victimization Survey conducted in the United States.

Statistics Canada conducts a national census of population and census of agriculture every five years and releases the data with a two-year lag.

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) are household surveys implemented by countries under the programme developed by the United Nations Children's Fund to provide internationally comparable, statistically rigorous data on the situation of children and women. The first round of surveys (MICS1) was carried out in over 60 countries in mainly 1995 and 1996 in response to the World Summit for Children and measurement of the mid-decade progress. A second round (MICS2) in 2000 increased the depth of the survey, allowing monitoring of a larger number of globally agreed indicators. A third round (MICS3) started in 2006 and aimed at producing data measuring progress also toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), A World Fit for Children, and other major relevant international commitments. The fourth round, launched in 2009, aimed at most data collection conducted in 2010, but in reality most MICS4s were implemented in 2011 and even into 2012 and 2013. This represented a scale-up of frequency of MICS from UNICEF, now offering the survey programme on a three-year cycle. The fifth round, launched in 2012, was aimed at offering countries the tools to do the final MDG data collection.

Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), is one of the largest panel survey in the world, supporting social and economic research. Its sample size is 40,000 households from the United Kingdom or approximately 100,000 individuals.

Labour Force Surveys are statistical surveys conducted in a number of countries designed to capture data about the labour market. All European Union member states are required to conduct a Labour Force Survey annually. Labour Force Surveys are also carried out in some non-EU countries. They are used to calculate the International Labour Organization (ILO)-defined unemployment rate. The ILO agrees the definitions and concepts employed in Labour Force Surveys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 United Kingdom census</span> 2011 census of the population of the United Kingdom

A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all counties of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the census in England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) is responsible for the census in Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) is responsible for the census in Northern Ireland.

The Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) is a national data archiving and dissemination service that was founded in January 2003. It is funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Jisc. In July 2012, the ESRC announced it will become a partner in the UK Data Service, to be established as of October 1st of 2012.

ESDS Government is a national data service which provides large-scale government surveys, such as the General Household Survey and the Labour Force Survey, as well as other key data resources for understanding population structure and change in the UK and its constituent countries. It is jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

The Expenditure and Food Survey is now the Living Costs and Food Survey.

The Omnibus Survey, now called the Opinions Survey, is a survey conducted monthly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Great Britain in order to collect information for different governmental departments as well as non-profit organisations in the academic and voluntary sector.

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a combined statistical survey of households in Great Britain which is conducted quarterly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It combines results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the English, Welsh and Scottish Labour Force Survey boosts which are funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Welsh Government and the Scottish Government.

The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a statistical survey which is conducted annually in order to collect information concerning health and health-related behaviour of people living in private households in England.

The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a longitudinal survey conducted by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at the University of London, following the lives of a sample of about 18,818 babies born in the UK in the year 2000–2001.

The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) is a continuing, multi-disciplinary longitudinal survey monitoring the development of babies born in the UK during the week of 5–11 April 1970.

The Families and Children Study (FACS) is a longitudinal study collecting information about families with dependent children in Great Britain, managed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

SAVE is a representative data collection about private households’ saving behaviour in Germany. The survey was conducted in 2001 for the first time.

The Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF) is a survey carried out in the United Kingdom by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is carried out on a calendar year basis and collects information on expenditure of goods and services for private households. The survey is primarily designed to collect expenditure information, however it also gathers information about the income of household members.

The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is an Australian household-based panel study which began in 2001. It has been used for examining a wide variety of economic, social, health and other issues, exmples of which include: the incidence of persistent poverty; assets and income in the transition to retirement; the correlates and impact of changes in physical and mental health; and an international comparison of wealth and happiness. The survey is widely used by Australian and international researchers in the fields of economics, social science, health and social policy and by the Australian Government. The HILDA survey is managed by a small team in the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. The inaugural director of the study was Professor Mark Wooden, who served in the role from 2000 to 2023. It is currently led by Nicole Watson and Roger Wilkins. The fieldwork was carried out by ACNielsen from 2001 to 2009 and has since been carried out by Roy Morgan Research. The survey is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Social Services.

References

  1. ↑ Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) GHS catalogue record entry, retrieved 8 September 2009
  2. ↑ UK Data Service series record for: General Lifestyle Survey (General Household Survey)
  3. ↑ National Statistics website, "Living in Britain 2001", About the General Household Survey Archived 18 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine , retrieved 8 September 2009
  4. ↑ ESDS Government, GHS webpages, retrieved 14 September 2009
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.