DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-3951-1
title: OPCS Omnibus Survey, Time Use Module, May 1995
title: Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 1990-2007
title: OPCS/ONS Omnibus Surveys; OPN

description: &lt;p&gt;The &lt;i&gt;Opinions and Lifestyle Survey&lt;/i&gt; (formerly known as the ONS Opinions Survey or Omnibus) is an omnibus survey that began in 1990, collecting data on a range of subjects commissioned by both the ONS internally and external clients (limited to other government departments, charities, non-profit organisations and academia).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Data are collected from one individual aged 16 or over, selected from each sampled private household. Personal data include data on the individual, their family, address, household, income and education, plus responses and opinions on a variety of subjects within commissioned modules.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The questionnaire collects timely data for research and policy analysis evaluation on the social impacts of recent topics of national importance, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the cost of living, on individuals and households in Great Britain.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;From April 2018 to November 2019, the design of the OPN changed from face-to-face to a mixed-mode design (online first with telephone interviewing where necessary). Mixed-mode collection allows respondents to complete the survey more flexibly and provides a more cost-effective service for customers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In March 2020, the OPN was adapted to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lives of people of Great Britain. These data are held in the Secure Access study, SN 8635, &lt;em&gt;ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, Covid-19 Module, 2020-2022: Secure Access. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;From August 2021, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were lifting across Great Britain, the OPN moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave to ensure the survey remains sustainable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The OPN has since expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living. For more information about the survey and its methodology, see the ONS &lt;a title="OPN Quality and Methodology Information" href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/methodologies/opinionsandlifestylesurveyqmi"&gt;OPN Quality and Methodology Information&lt;/a&gt; webpage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Secure Access Opinions and Lifestyle Survey data&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Other Secure Access OPN data cover modules run at various points from 1997-2019, on Census religion (SN 8078), cervical cancer screening (SN 8080), contact after separation (SN 8089), contraception (SN 8095), disability (SNs 8680 and 8096), general lifestyle (SN 8092), illness and activity (SN 8094), and non-resident parental contact (SN 8093). See &lt;a href="https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/series/series?id=2000043"&gt;Opinions and Lifestyle Survey: Secure Access&lt;/a&gt; for details.&lt;/p&gt; The objective of the project was to develop a &lt;i&gt;light&lt;/i&gt; time budget instrument suitable for use as an add-on component to other surveys, without adding unduly to respondent burden. In the course of the activity, a development programme was undertaken, involving workshops, field-testing of alternative experimental instruments, evaluation and redesign of these, and a full-scale pilot study. The instrument is designed to be used in both self-response and interview completion modes.&lt;br&gt;
Some 2005 Omnibus Survey respondents were asked to provide a retrospective diary-type account on a designated day. The pilot study has thus yielded useful statistical information, sufficient to make broad national estimates of adult time use patterns in the early summer of 1995. The sample is sufficient to make reliable contrasts between broad time use aggregates for subgroups at, for example, a &lt;i&gt;full-time employed woman vs part-time employed woman&lt;/i&gt; level. It is too small to make reliable estimates for smaller time use categories and for smaller classificatory categories. Despite the presence of geographic classificatory variables (Standard Regions), the sample size is not sufficiently large to make reliable sub-national estimates of any of the time use categories.