DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-6676-11
title: Understanding Society: Waves 1-10, 2009-2019 and Harmonised BHPS: Waves 1-18, 1991-2009: Secure Access
title: Understanding Society: Waves 1- , 2008-: Secure Access
title: United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study; UKHLS

description: &lt;p&gt;Understanding Society (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, and the survey research organisations Kantar Public and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;For full details of the main Understanding Society study, see SN 6614.&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Secure Access Dataset:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Understanding Society: Waves 1-10, 2009-2019 and Harmonised BHPS: Waves 1-18, 1991-2009: Secure Access&lt;/em&gt; dataset contains British National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed, derived from the ONS National Statistics Postcode Directory (NSPD). Grid references are presented in terms of Eastings and Northings, which are distances in metres (east and north, respectively) from the origin (0,0), which lies to the west of the Scilly Isles. Each grid reference is given a positional quality indicator to denote the accuracy of the grid reference. In the majority of cases, the assigned grid reference relates to the building of the matched address closest to the postcode mean. The grid references provided for Northern Ireland postcodes use the Irish National Grid system that covers all of Ireland and is independent of the British National Grid. No grid references are provided for postcodes in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;The Secure Access version includes all files in the Special Licence version, plus files that contain 3 variables relating to the National Grid Reference for each household: Easting, Northing and positional quality indicator (OSGRDIND). The Secure Access version also includes data files with full dates of birth for Understanding Society and BHPS respondents. All other files are the same as in the Special Licence version, which is held under SN 6931.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related UK Data Archive studies&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;br&gt;The Secure Access version of the dataset has more restrictive access conditions than standard End User Licence or Special Licence access datasets (see 'Access' section below). Further details and links to the less restrictive versions can be found on the&lt;a title="Understanding Society series" href="http://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/series/?sn=2000053"&gt;Understanding Society series&lt;/a&gt; Key data page.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;User Guide&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The User Guide document included in the dissemination package available to authorised users is a periodic 'snapshot' of the guide available on the&lt;span&gt;Understanding Society&lt;/span&gt; website. Users should ensure they also consult the online&lt;span&gt;Understanding Society&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/mainstage/user-guides/main-survey-user-guide/"&gt;Main Survey User Guide&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;for the latest information.  The online guide includes videos and webinars, and links to the printable PDF version.&lt;br&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;Edition history:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The first edition (released March 2011) comprised data and documentation from the General Population component for Wave 1, Year 1.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The second edition (March 2013) comprised the full set of Wave 1 data and documentation, including the second year of Wave 1, as well as finalised data and documentation from Wave 2.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The third edition (December 2013) included data and documentation from Wave 3, along with updated data and documentation for Waves 1 and 2. The third edition also included full dates of birth for respondents enumerated at any of the first three waves.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The fourth edition (January 2015) included data and documentation from Wave 4, along with updated data and documentation for Waves 1, 2 and 3. The fourth edition also included full dates of birth for respondents enumerated at any of the first four waves.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The fifth edition (December 2015) included data and documentation from Wave 5, along with updated data and documentation for Waves 1 - 4. The fifth edition also included full dates of birth for respondents enumerated at any of the first five waves.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The sixth edition (December 2016) includes data and documentation from Wave 6, along with updated data and documentation for Waves 1 - 5. The sixth edition also includes full dates of birth for respondents enumerated at any of the first six waves.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;For the seventh edition (November 2017), Wave 7 data have been added and some minor changes made to Waves 1- 6. In addition, harmonised versions (i.e. specifically designed to be used in conjunction with Understanding Society waves) of the British Household Panel Study (BHPS Waves 1 to 18) have been added. See documentation for details of the changes.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;For the eighth edition (August 2018), Special Licence version files are supplied alongside grid reference and full date of birth files instead of the End User Licence versions for all waves. Additional harmonisation (i.e. specifically designed to be used in conjunction with Understanding Society waves) of BHPS (waves 1 to 18) has been undertaken, with minor changes to waves 1 to 7 of Understanding Society. Grid reference files are now provided for the harmonised BHPS waves. A new full date of birth file is included with the BHPS waves for the first time. See documentation for further details.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;For the 9th edition (November 2018), Wave 8 data have been added and some minor changes made to Waves 1-7. With the exception of bw_indresp files, harmonised BHPS files have not been changed for this release.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;For the 10th edition (November 2019), Wave 9 data have been added and some minor changes made to Waves 1-8. Harmonised BHPS files have not been changed for this release although the Interviewer Characteristics files xivdata and xivdata_bh are now no longer included but are held in a separate Special Licence which can be separately applied for. Please refer to the Revisions document for changes to the data included from SN 6931.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;For the 11th edition (November 2020)&lt;/span&gt;, Wave 10 data have been added and some minor changes made to Waves 1-9. &lt;span&gt;The documentation has been updated.&lt;/span&gt;  Other changes are described in the revisions document. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Suitable data analysis software&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain over 2,047 variables.&lt;/p&gt;