DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-8635-13
title: ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2025: Secure Access
title: Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 1997- : Secure Access
title: Coronavirus and the Social Impacts on Great Britain; OPN

description: &lt;p&gt;The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is an omnibus survey that collects 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;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, 2019-2023: Secure Access. &lt;/em&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).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class="StyledText-sc-1sadyjn-0 enGxL sc-jOrMOR gOSejj"&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.
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class="StyledText-sc-1sadyjn-0 enGxL sc-jOrMOR gOSejj"&gt;The OPN has since expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living. &lt;/span&gt;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-style: italic;"&gt;ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2025: Secure Access&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The aim of the COVID-19 Module within this study was to help understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on people, households and communities in Great Britain. It was a weekly survey initiated in March 2020, and since August 2021, as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the survey has moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave. The study allows the breakdown of impacts by at-risk age, gender and underlying health condition. The samples are randomly selected from those that had previously completed other ONS surveys (e.g., &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Labour Market Survey&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Annual Population Survey&lt;/span&gt;).  From each household, one adult is randomly selected but with unequal probability: younger people are given a higher selection probability than older people because of under-estimation in the samples available for the survey.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study also includes data for the Internet Access Module from 2019 onwards.  Data from this module for previous years are available as End User Licence studies within GN 33441.  Also included are data from the Winter Lifestyle Survey for January and February 2023.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Latest edition information&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the thirteenth edition (February 2026), data and documentation for the Childcare Options Module (April, July, August, October, and November 2018) have been added.&lt;/p&gt;