Mainstage
About the Survey
Understanding Society collects information on all members of the household in computer assisted interviews. The mainstage survey includes participants from the general population sample, the ethnic minority boost and, from Wave 2 onwards, the British Household Panel Survey sample.
Questionnaires for the mainstage study are presented in pdf and html format. Documents used to train interviewers and communicate with participants may be found in the Fieldwork documents section. Information about datafiles, question modules, questions, and variables are also available in the Dataset documentation section.
The first four waves of the survey involve face-to-face interviews in the participants’ homes. At future waves, some interviews will be conducted by telephone or via the internet, while others continue to be carried out in the participants’ homes.
Check out latest research findings.
Download Wave 1 and Year 1 of Wave 2 now.
Research possibilities using this unique sample.
Understanding Society is a world leading study of the socio-economic circumstances and attitudes of 100,000 individuals in 40,000 British households.
It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and run by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER). The study allows for deeper analysis of a wide range of sections of the population as they respond to regional, national and international change. Understanding Society will greatly enhance our insight into the pathways that influence peoples longer term occupational trajectories; their health and well-being, their financial circumstances and personal relationships.
Understanding Society also breaks new ground with its interdisciplinary focus. The study will capture biomedical data on 20,000 participants and place this alongside rich social histories, helping us weigh the extent to which people's environment influences their health.