DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37513
title: Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, United States, 2017
title: Archival Version

description: In December 2017, the Urban Institute launched the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS), a nationally representative, internet-based survey of nonelderly adults designed to monitor changes in individual and family well-being during a time when policymakers are considering significant changes to federal safety net programs serving low-income families. The survey collects information on abroad array of topics related to health and material hardship, including health insurance, housing, food security, employment, family income, program participation, and family financial security.
description: The Urban Institute launched the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) to monitor changes in individual and family health and well-being as policymakers make changes to federal safety net programs and the labor market continues to evolve.
description: The Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) weights reflect the probability of sample selection from the KnowledgePanel and post-stratification to the characteristics of nonelderly adults in the United States based on benchmarks from the Current Population
Survey (CPS) and American Community Survey (ACS) for the following measures: age by gender; race and ethnicity; educational attainment; presence of children in the household; census region; residence in a metropolitan area; homeownership
status; family income as a percentage of the federal poverty level; family composition (married or living with a partner by presence of children in the family); primary language; and internet access by age.
description: Response Rates: The Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) response rate is roughly four percent each round.
description: For each round, a stratified random sample of approximately 7,500 adults ages 18 to 64 is drawn from the KnowledgePanel, a probability-based, nationally
representative Internet panel maintained by Ipsos (formerly maintained by GfK Custom Research). The Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) includes an oversample of adults with household incomes under 150 percent of the federal poverty level to improve the precision of estimates for this group. Current recruitment into the KnowledgePanel is based on an address-based sampling frame that covers nearly all residential addresses in the United States. In earlier periods, recruitment was carried out by telephone based on random-digit dialing sampling techniques. Approximately 55,000 U.S. households participate in the panel, including those with and without Internet access. Laptop computers and Internet access are provided to panel members if needed, and respondents can complete the online surveys in English or Spanish.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Public-Use Data
DS2: Restricted-Use Data
description: Household population aged 18-64. Smallest Geographic Unit: Census region
description: web-based surveyAdditional information about the survey is available at the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey Website.Variables regarding substance abuse have been masked in the public release due to sensitivity of the questions. Users seeking these variables must enter a restricted data agreement with ICPSR to gain access to those variables