General Household Survey, 2003-2004

Abstract

The General Household Survey (GHS), ran from 1971-2011 (the UKDS holds data from 1972-2011). It was a continuous annual national survey of people living in private households, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The main aim of the survey was to collect data on a range of core topics, covering household, family and individual information. This information was used by government departments and other organisations for planning, policy and monitoring purposes, and to present a picture of households, families and people in Great Britain. In 2008, the GHS became a module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). In recognition, the survey was renamed the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF). The GLF closed in January 2012. The 2011 GLF is therefore the last in the series. A limited number of questions previously run on the GLF were subsequently included in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN). Secure Access GHS/GLF The UKDS holds standard access End User Licence (EUL) data for 1972-2006. A Secure Access version is available, covering the years 2000-2011 - see SN 6716 General Lifestyle Survey, 2000-2011: Secure Access. History The GHS was conducted annually until 2011, except for breaks in 1997-1998 when the survey was reviewed, and 1999-2000 when the survey was redeveloped. Further information may be found in the ONS document An overview of 40 years of data (General Lifestyle Survey Overview - a report on the 2011 General Lifestyle Survey) (PDF). Details of changes each year may be found in the individual study documentation. EU-SILC In 2005, the European Union (EU) made a legal obligation (EU-SILC) for member states to collect additional statistics on income and living conditions. In addition, the EU-SILC data cover poverty and social exclusion. These statistics are used to help plan and monitor European social policy by comparing poverty indicators and changes over time across the EU. The EU-SILC requirement was integrated into the GHS/GLF in 2005. After the closure of the GLF, EU-SILC was collected via the Family Resources Survey (FRS) until the UK left the EU in 2020. Reformatted GHS data 1973-1982 - Surrey SPSS Files SPSS files were created by the University of Surrey for all GHS years from 1973 to 1982 inclusive. The early files were restructured and the case changed from the household to the individual with all of the household information duplicated for each individual. The Surrey SPSS files contain all the original variables as well as some extra derived variables (a few variables were omitted from the data files for 1973-76). In 1973 only, the section on leisure was not included in the Surrey SPSS files. This has subsequently been made available, however, and is now held in a separate study, General Household Survey, 1973: Leisure Questions (SN 3982). Records for the original GHS 1973-1982 ASCII files have been removed from the UK Data Archive catalogue, but the data are still preserved and available upon request. Changes to the 2006 data The GHS methodology has changed to longitudinal data collection. The design changed in 2005 but the 2006 dataset is the first wave where a proportion (68%) of the sample are people who were also interviewed the year before. It should be noted however that the dataset is still cross-sectional as it contains data only from 2006. For the third edition (February 2009), amendments were made to variables LGLSTAT, CHNBORN and CHEXCM in the individual file. A minor error had been discovered by the depositor with the LGLSTAT variable, where 188 cases had been assigned as being in a cohabiting couple, when they should have been classified as either single, widowed or divorced. The subsequent derived variables concerning the number of children in cohabiting relationships (variables CHNBORN and CHEXCM) should also have been set to 'not applicable' for these cases. This error has now been corrected, but it had a minor impact on the breakdown between non-married categories in tables 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.8, 5.10 and 5.11 of the 2006 GHS report. Original and correct versions of the tables are included in the documentation for reference (also available from the GHS website). For a full edition history, see READ file (link below).

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