UPTAP Conference 18th March 2008 1 The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS): Progress and Plans Alita Nandi Institute for Social and Economic Research

UPTAP Conference 18th March 2008 1

The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS): Progress

and Plans

Alita Nandi Institute for Social and Economic

ResearchUniversity of Essex

18th March 2008http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/ukhls/

http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/ukhls/

UPTAP Conference 18th March 20082

Outline

•Overview•Questionnaire content•Timeline


Overview


What is the UKHLS?

• UKHLS is a longitudinal study based on a household panel design

• Basic design similar to that of British Household Panel Survey which it will replace

• Representative of the whole UK population (now and in the future)

• Sampled households will be interviewed annually starting from 2009


Key features

• Large sample size – 40,0 00 households and 100,000 individuals

• Full age range – gather information for all members of the sampled household

• Broad inter-disciplinary topic coverage – multi-purpose survey supporting a very wide range of research agenda in economics, social policy and sociology and interdisciplinary research with other fields such as geography, psychology and genetics


Key features (contd.)

• Ethnicity strand & ethnic minority boost sample – designed to accommodate longitudinal analysis of minority ethnic groups and exploration of questions of specific interest for research into ethnicity

• Biomedical strand – opportunity to assess exposure and antecedent factors of health status, understanding disease mechanisms, household and socioeconomic effects and analysis of outcomes

• Methodological Innovations – Innovation Panel (about 3000 individuals)

• Innovative data collection methods – data linkage, bio markers,..


Sample Design – New main sample

• New main sample will be clustered in a sample of postcode sectors

• Equal probability sample of addresses in UK

• All persons resident at those addresses are sample members (possibly household associates)

• Subsequent to wave 1 interview:– all wave 1 sample members are followed– all children born to female wave 1 sample members

become sample member– All household members of wave 1 sample members


Sample Design – BHPS & Ethnic minority boost

• BHPS – After 18 waves BHPS (including Scottish & Welsh boosts and NIHPS) will become part of the UKHLS from wave 2 onwards

• Ethnic minority boost sample – Requirement for 1000 individuals in each of the five ethnic groups (African, Bangladeshi, Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani), plus those from other ethnic groups screened in (expected to include around 500 of those of mixed ethnicities and around 300 Chinese, plus around 1000 from other ethnic groups). Note this is additional to the coverage proportional to population representation of all ethnic groups across the UK in the main sample.

• White comparison sample – all persons in all households in a sub-sample of wave 1 main sample addresses (approx. 600 responding households)


Sample components and sizes

Component Interviewed Hhds (w1)

Innovation Panel 1,560

BHPS Wave 18New General Population SampleEthnic Minority Boost Sample

Total UKHLS

8,350

26,780

4,210

40,900


Screening for EMB

Does anyone living at this address come from, or have parents or grandparents from, any of the following ethnic groups or origins?

A) Indian B) Pakistani C) Bangladeshi D) Sri Lankan E) Chinese F) Far Eastern G) Turkish H) Middle Eastern and Iranian I) Caribbean J) African (including North African) K) Other minority group L) No – none of these

Among those who answer A or I, additional questions will be asked to ascertain whether any person has origins in another ethnic group as well as Indian/Caribbean.

Among those who answer to J, a further question will ascertain if North African, African Asian, Black African or White African


Screening for EMB cont.Selection probabilities are: ― 100% for Bangladeshi, North African, Black African, Turkish, Chinese, Sri Lankan, Far Eastern, Middle Eastern and mixed Indian and Caribbean― 0% for White African, other minority group and none of these ― 46% for Indian and African Asian (non-mixed)―75% for Caribbean (non-mixed)―58% for PakistaniA household takes the highest of any possible selection probabilities for any member.

This is intended to give the 1000 required adults from the five groups plus small numbers for some discrete combinations and to exclude those from very small groups (where separate analysis will be impossible) and those from white majority or minority groups (who will be poorly represented across the boost areas, but will be represented across the main sample).


Estimated structure of Boost SampleInterviewed adults (w1)

Interviewed hhds (w1)

Indian 1,240 600

Pakistani 1,000 440

Bangladeshi

1,000 430

Caribbean 1,370 1,030

African 1,200 820

Chinese 360 220

Other 1,070 700

Total 7,240 4,240


Fieldwork Schedule

2008 2009 2010 2011

O J A J O J A J O J A J

W1

W2


Data Collection Modes

• Wave 1 – face to face interviewing for all 16+– Self-completion for all 16+– Self-completion for 10-15 year olds– Telephone as last resort for refusal conversion

• Wave 2 – mixed modes: telephone where possible and

face to face elsewhere

• Mixed mode approaches being tested on Innovation Panel

• Web under consideration for future


Innovation Panel wave 1 experiments

• Testing questions – different types of consumption, unearned income/benefits and marital history questions

• Investigating scope for mixed mode approaches

―Access to telephone and internet, response rates

―Difference in data quality in questions with and without showcards

• Testing effect of incentives on response• Testing consent questions


Questionnaire content


Key questionnaire constraints

– 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

face to face interview administered, plus self completion and consents to link data

– Household roster, plus 10 minutes household questionnaire

– ‘Extra 5 minutes’ for Ethnic Minority Boost and White Comparison Sample

– Some data collection by self completion from children aged 10-15 from wave 1


Potential areas of coverage

1. Standard of living measures (income, consumption, material deprivation, expenditure, financial well-being)

2. Family, social networks and interactions, local contexts, social support, technology and social contacts

3. Attitudes and behaviours related to environmental issues (energy, transport, air quality, global warming etc.)

4. Illicit and risky behaviour (crime, drug use, anti-social behaviour etc).

5. Lifestyle, social, political, religious and other participation, identity and related practices, dimensions of life satisfaction/happiness

6. Psychological attributes, cognitive abilities and behaviour

7. Preferences, beliefs, attitudes and expectations8. Health outcomes and health related behaviour9. Education, human capital and work10. Initial conditions, life history


Ethnicity Strand: questionnaire content

Key areas identified in consultations to be asked in wave 1 across the whole sample

• Own, parents’ and grandparents’ country of birth, and date of migration if applicable

• Own ethnic identity; mother’s and father’s ethnic identity and strength of identification with parental ethnicity

• Religious affiliation; religious participation; and importance of belief to self.

• Whether first language English or not; functioning and literacy in English


Ethnicity Strand: questionnaire content contd.

• Parental aspirations for child’s education/employment

• Child’s aspirations • Some questions on experience of discrimination

and harassment. • Some questions on self-employment • Citizenship status


Ethnicity Strand: questionnaire content, ‘Extra five minutes’

‘Extra five minutes’ could allow additional topics or greater frequency for especially salient ones or a bit of both (asked only of EMB and WCS)

• Intermediate countries of migration • Remittances, whether money remitted, how

much and what for • Internal migration following

settlement/childhood • Additional questions on experience of

discrimination and harassment.


Some principles for selecting measures

1. Longitudinal survey: prioritise measures best used longitudinally, rather than just at a single point in time, or repeated cross-section.

2. Household survey: prioritise measures that benefit from understanding of the household context and measures from other family members.

3. Why UKHLS: Do not just duplicate other surveys. Prioritise new measures not covered elsewhere or where UKHLS design leads to benefits from replication.


Principles contd.

4. Related topics: Priority for topics which most benefit from co-existence on the same survey as other included topics (esp. those that maximise the possibilities for cross-disciplinary research and balance between different topic areas).

5. Respondent burden: Successful establishment for the long term with low attrition is priority now. Minimise respondent burden and avoid measures which may damage response.

6. BHPS questions: Learn from BHPS but not a replication, so BHPS questions not carried unless they are the best alternative.


Components of the wave 1 questionnaire

• Annual repeating measures• Initial conditions and life history,

once only• Rotating and intermittent measures

first introduced at wave 1Alternative methods: • Random sub-sample?• Data linkage?


Includes individual questionnaire and self-completion

Wave 1

Average for future waves

Annual repeating questions

17.8m

17.8m

Initial conditions 12.4m

0.0

Rotating questions

9.7m 22.1m

Estimated timings for questionnaire components


Annual repeating questions- Rationale

1. The dynamics of change per se (e.g. duration in states, factors explaining transitions from one state to another) are themselves interesting

and2. the phenomena themselves are subject to

substantive change from year to year at the individual level, at least for significant fractions of the population

Annual data collection is less appropriate where the interest is in long term impacts of earlier conditions, or where the time to impact is not of the highest priority


Annual repeating questions - content• Basic demographic

characteristics and changes, fertility, partnering,

• Health status (e.g. SF12), disability,

• Labour market activity and employment status, job search

• Current job characteristics, basic employment conditions, hours of paid work, second jobs

• Childcare, other caring within and outside household

• Income and earnings • Life satisfaction

• Political affiliation – basic measures

• Transport and communication access

• Education aspirations and expectations

• Consumption expenditure

• Housing characteristics – basic

• Housing expenditure

• Household facilities, car ownership


Initial conditions and life histories

• UKHLS will provide longitudinal data from the point at which sample members are selected at wave 1

• Need data about people’s earlier life to fully exploit panel data in analysis

• Initial Conditions– factual background measures e.g. place of birth,

details of parental background, education and qualifications

• Life History data – record all changes in a particular domain over the

whole life-course to date e.g. cohabitation, marital and fertility history; an employment history; migration history; and many others


Rotating and intermittent questions- Rationale

• Time constraint: Use of rotating modules and intermittent measures for a substantial proportion of questionnaire time increases the range and number of questions that can be asked across the survey

• Not too time varying: A more infrequent cycle may, anyway, be more suitable for some measures.

• Some rotating modules will be included at wave 1, but far more in subsequent waves


Rotating & intermittent questions- Suggested frequency

• BiennialFuel consumptionMental health and well-beingTobacco, alcohol, drug usePhysical activity, fitness, nutritionFinancial/ material well-beingPensions and savings behaviourCommuting behaviourWork aspirations, preferences and

expectationsDomestic workVoluntary workFamily networks outside householdTravel behaviourICT usageLeisure participationAttitudes and behaviour related to the

environment

• 5-10 yearlyPsychological attributes / stable values or

preferencesCognitive ability/identity

• 3-5 yearlyHousing wealthEthnicity and national identityFertility intentionsChronic health conditionsSleepObesity and body massWealth, credit and debtEmployment conditionsWithin household organisationSocial relationships within the familyReligionSocial and friendship networksSocial supportPolitical engagementSocial engagement, social capitalLocal neighbourhoodQuality of life measuresDiscrimination and racismCultural consumption


Rotating & intermittent questions - some issues

• Some modules are complementary and are best asked in the same wave – co-ordination as well as frequency then becomes an issue.

• Some questions might be most salient for particular sub-populations – e.g. particular age groups; or may be suitable for higher frequency at particular ages

• Some questions can be related to events that may occur in people’s lives and can be asked just at those points.

• Some questions or topic areas still need development – timing of introduction is in part dependent on that.


Random sub-samples - Rationale

• For many, but not all, purposes 40,000 households is larger than needed

• Could exploit this by creating random sub-samples which contain both questions asked of everyone and subsets of questions asked only in the sub-sample

• This increases the effective length of the questionnaire, and potentially allows inclusion of more modules or permits modules to be included with greater frequency


Random sub-samples - some issues

• Ensuring that right combinations of questions are on same sub-sample – major design challenge

• Combine ‘light’ measurement of topics for full sample, with greater depth or higher frequency for sub-sample?

• Issues for ethnic minority boost sample, and separate analyses of e.g. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: if we used this approach these samples would also be split

• Context effects?

• NB: we are not proposing to introduce sub-sampling at wave 1


Random sub-samples- Different approaches

1. Completely distinct question groups: requires groups of questions where can assume that there will little demand for analysis combining data from more than one group. Implies thematically coherent groups.

2. Overlapping question groups in different sub-samples. Ensures that every pair of questions is asked in combination for a random sub-set of respondents. The time gains are less, but it might cover a higher proportion of questions.

3. Randomise the allocation of questions at the individual respondent level. Statistical benefits but complex for analysis.


Data Linkage

• Purposes of data linkage– Supplement data collected in survey– Substitute data collected in survey– Validate data collected in survey

• Issues in data linkage: – best timing of obtaining consents for

individual-level linkage given burden and sensitivity issues

– User access plan


Timetable


…Up until now

• Spring 2007: PI team started work, consultation launched

• June/July: initial meetings of topic groups and ethnicity strand consultation

• September 2007: Topic groups reported & development of Innovation Panel questionnaire started (NB different from wave 1 questionnaire)

• October 2007: 1st meeting of Scientific Advisory Committee, proposals for topic content circulated

• December 2007: measures for Main wave 1 identified

• January 2008: Innovation Panel wave 1 started


From now on…

• Ongoing: Consultation for Main wave 2 and Youth questionnaire wave 1

• March 2008: Completion of Innovation Panel wave 1 fieldwork

• June 2008: Final survey pilot for Main wave 1• July 2008: Design for Innovation Panel wave 2• January 2009: Start of Main wave 1 fieldwork

Active consultation process: so far more than 30 meetings (including 15 for ethnicity strand), more than 200 written comments (including 50 for ethnicity strand).

UPTAP Conference 18th March 2008 39

Thank you!


Email us at: [email protected] email the ethnicity strand at [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

UPTAP Conference 18th March 2008 1 The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS): Progress and Plans Alita Nandi Institute for Social and Economic Research