Understanding Society: early findings from the first wave of the UK's household longitudinal study
Year: 2011
Type: book
Abstract: In Chapter 3, for example, the data suggest that there is no direct link between material deprivation and life satisfaction for young people.Addressing the subject of health in Chapter 9, the authors argue that mental resilience is not necessarily linked to physical health.In early fi ndings on material well-being reported in Chapter 7, the data reveal that the relationship between income and deprivation is not straightforward but varies with levels of qualifi cation and house-ownership.And again, despite the received wisdom prevalent in society today that social bonds are in terminal decay, the analysis of patterns of participation reported in Chapter 8 offers a fascinating insight into the signifi cant increases in community participation that are associated with retirement.These examples represent only a fraction of the many fascinating new insights that this Early Findings publication from Understanding Society provides.More than anything, these early analyses highlight the potential of the study to provide a much more comprehensive picture about individuals, households and communities in the UK today.Uniquely, perhaps, the household focus of the study will allow a level of sophistication in our understanding of important issues such as attitudes to carbon-reduction and climate change, since as the analyses of Chapter 12 demonstrates, such attitudes are shaped by the subtle inter-play of intra-household dynamics.Perhaps even more important still, will be the scope that Understanding Society offers to explore the interaction between the various topics that it covers through its innovative research methods, its uniquely large scale and the wide and changing range of topics covered.But great ambitions are inevitably associated with signifi cant risks.Both the Governing Board of the study and the research team are very much aware of the challenges that will accompany such an ambitious project.These range from the signifi cant technical challenges associated with the scale and range of the ambitious programme of datacollection that is planned for Understanding Society, to the political and ethical issues that are inextricably associated with working with multiple partners and datasets.They also include the fi nancial sustainability of the survey at a time of scarce Government resources. If the ambitious goals of UnderstandingSociety are to be achieved, equally ambitious developments in research techniques will be required OVERVIEW OF UNDERSTANDING SOCIETYThis volume contains an appendix providing information on the design of the study and the data collection for Wave 1.Here, we summarise some of this, in order to set the context for the rest of the book.The study consists of four distinct samples: (a) a new random sample representative of the whole UK population large enough for the investigation of sub-populations, of around 27,000 households; (b) an ethnic minority boost facilitating minority group research, around 4,000 households; (c) the incorporation of the existing BHPS sample of around 8,200 households, and (d) an Innovation Nick Buck, Principal Investigator Longitudinal studies have a major role in understanding complex social changes The chapters presented in this volume are fi rst steps to realising the potential of Understanding
Authors: McFall, Stephanie L, Garrington, Chris
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1577759511