Understanding Society Waves 6 to 8

英国家庭纵向研究《理解社会》对个人进行了一段时间的跟踪调查，定期收集每个样本个人及其家庭的数据。这项研究将提供关于个人一级的变化及其与家庭变化的关系的信息。这些小组为了解世界各地社会面临的关键问题提供了重要资源。它们提供了关于儿童贫困或残疾等状态的持续性的独特信息，提供了影响婚姻和离婚等关键人生转变的因素的独特信息，并提供了关于早期生活环境对以后结果的影响的信息。它们还支持与政策的形成和评估有关的研究，并使分析技术得到改进和更加可靠。仅基于对每个个体的单一观察得出的横断面数据不能实现这些目标。它解决了新的和正在出现的研究问题，例如家庭行为、与健康相关的行为或英国社会中新出现的多样性对环境的影响。这项研究始于2008年，与旨在改进调查数据收集方法的创新小组和2009年开始的主要小组一起进行了实地工作。本次竞标包括第6至第8波的数据收集和一系列其他活动，以制定方法，支持用户并向一系列受众推广方法。《了解社会》以一个非常大的样本量为基础，代表了英国社会的所有年龄和方方面面，并在结构上捕捉了个人在其家庭背景及其变化中的信息。目标样本为40,000个家庭，为探索其他纵向调查规模太小而无法支持有效研究的问题提供了一个独特的机会。英国社会的多样性也通过纳入少数族裔促进样本得到了体现。它包括年度访谈，以捕捉社会过程的短期动态，观察事件发生的时间和持续时间。对于这一愿景来说，同样至关重要的是打算长期进行下去，以捕捉生命过程和代际传播过程。通过问卷和其他方式收集的实质性内容是多用途和多主题的，支持广泛的研究议程。两个重点领域是支持族裔研究和开发生物社会调查，探讨个人行为、个人生物特征和社会环境之间的关系。数据将直接从受访者那里收集，并从外部来源链接。内容的选择是基于与学术和研究用户社区的广泛协商。创新和方法发展是关键。它是发展新科学知识的关键试验台，并将推动新方法工具的发展。关于收集和分析方法的研究方案将使“了解社会”成为社会科学研究实践中更广泛改进的催化剂。我们的活动计划围绕调查制定和传播的主要阶段展开：说明内容、制定研究设计的所有方面、以最高标准收集数据、准备、加强和记录数据以供发布、支持用户最适当地使用数据以及促进研究以确保产生最大影响。这一时期的核心活动包括：通过网络访谈收集数据；扩大与该研究有关的行政数据的范围；促进研究人员使用该研究，包括健康和生物措施。这项建议是基于埃塞克斯、华威和教育研究所的团队的经验，这些团队在头五年成功地完成了这项研究。

Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, follows individuals over time, regularly collecting data about each sample individual and his or her household. The study will provide information on both change at the individual level and how it relates to household change. Such panels have provided a major resource for understanding key issues which face societies around the world. They provide unique information on the persistence of such states as child poverty or disability, on factors which influence key life transitions, such as marriage and divorce, and they provide information on the effects of earlier life circumstances on later outcomes. They also support research relevant to the formation and evaluation of policy and they enable improved and more reliable analytical techniques. Cross-sectional data, based on only a single observation of each individual cannot achieve these aims. It addresses new and emerging research issues, such as the environmental impacts of household behaviour, health related behaviours or emerging diversity in UK society Fieldwork for the study started in 2008 with the Innovation Panel, which aims to improve methods of collecting survey data, and the main panel which began in 2009. This bid covers data collection for wave 6 to 8 and a range of other activities to develop methodology and to support users and promote it to a range of audiences. Understanding Society is based on a very large sample size, representing all ages and all aspects of UK society, and structured to capture information about individuals in their household context and its changes. The target sample, 40,000 households, provides a unique opportunity to explore issues for which other longitudinal surveys are too small to support effective research. The diversity of UK society is also captured by the inclusion of an ethnic minority boost sample. It involves annual interviews to capture the short term dynamics of social processes, observing the timing and duration of events close to the point at which they occur. Also critical to the vision is the intention to carry on for the long term so as to capture life course and intergenerational transmission processes. The substantive content, collected both by questionnaire and by other means, is multi-purpose and multi-topic, supporting a wide range of research agendas. Two areas of emphasis are support for ethnicity research and development of a biosocial survey exploring the relationships between individual behaviour, individual biological characteristics and social environment. Data will be collected directly from respondents and linked from external sources. Selection of content is based on widespread consultation with the academic and research user communities. Innovation and methodological development are key. It is a crucial test bed for the development of new scientific knowledge and will give momentum to development of new methodological tools. A programme of research on collection and analysis methods will make Understanding Society a catalyst for wider improvements in the practice of social science research. Our plan of activities is based around the major stages in the development and dissemination of a survey: specification of content, development on all aspects of the study design, collection of data to the highest standards, preparing, enhancing and documenting data for release, support for users in the most appropriate uses of the data and promotion of the study to ensure maximum impact. Core activities for this period include: development of collection by web interviews; extending the range of administrative data linked to the study; and promoting the use of the study amongst researchers, including the health and biological measures. This proposal is based on the experience of the team at Essex, Warwick and the Institute of Education which have successfully delivered the study through its first five years.