ARK is a resource dedicated to making social and political information on Northern Ireland available to all

ARK currently has 7 resources –Life and Times Survey –ORB – Online Research Bank –CAIN – Conflict Archive on the Internet –Survey Analysis Unit –Surveys on Line –NI Elections –Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey (NIHPS) Analysis Unit

The Role of ARK NIHPS Analysis Unit –Develop NI expertise in handling the survey data –Analyse the data –Promote the survey among the research community in NI –Exploit the data to its maximum benefit for policymaking

Format of the day –Introduction to the NIHPS How the survey is carried out Main contents of the questionnaires Overview of the data files –Using the On-Line data documentation Finding the way around the website –Working with the NIHPS data files

The NIHPS is an extension of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) Why do panel survey? –Can track the movement of individuals and households within society –Useful for examining what factors lead to the movement into and out of poverty, ill- health etc.

Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) responsible for the technical aspects of the survey across the UK –Design of the survey –Questionnaire development –Data validation and weighting Fieldwork in NI carried out by NISRA

Wave 1 – households drawn randomly from across NI –achieved sample 1,978 households and 3,458 individuals –Household Response – 69% –Individual Response – 89%

Wave 2 response rates –Within households at least 1 person responding – 87% –Complete Household Response for all eligible individuals – 70% –Interviews at Waves 1 and 2 – 83% Fieldwork for Wave 3 ongoing

Unique value of the NIHPS: Follows the same representative sample of individuals over a period of years Household-based, interviewing every adult member of sampled households Allows change to be measured at the gross as well as the net level

Sample Membership Status: Original Sample Members (OSMs) -always eligible to be interviewed –All members of Wave 1 households –Their natural children born after the start of the study Temporary Sample Members (TSMs) – eligible only while living with an OSM –People who form households with OSMs after the start of the study

Sample Membership Status: Permanent Sample Members (PSMs) –TSMs may become PSMs if they are deemed to have a sufficiently strong continuing bond to an OSM to justify following them even if they cease to live with that person

There are 3 main parts to the NIHPS Household Interview – Household Reference Person (HRP) Individual Interviews - each member of the household aged 16+ (rising 16s) Self-complete questionnaire - each member of the household aged 16+ (rising 16s)

In addition: –Proxy Interview for household members unavailable at the time of the interview –At Wave 4, young people aged will complete young persons questionnaire, then join adult panel at age 16

There are 3 components to the NIHPS: Core component –Repeated every year Rotating core component –Usually repeated every 2/3 years Variable component –Asked once in the life of the panel study e.g. where born, age left school

Content of Wave 1 of the NIHPS Household Section –Household Grid –Tenure –Housing Condition/Costs –Consumer Durables –Loans

Individual Section Parental Background (job status when respondent was aged 14) Demographic information Health - physical Employment History Values and opinions

Income from all sources including interest on savings, receipt of benefits etc. Expenditure - spending patterns Household Tasks Major events in person's life in the last year

Self-Completion Form General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) General well-being Roles within the family and support networks

Section 75 Groups: Age Gender Marital status Religion Race Dependants Political Opinion Disability

Wave 2 of the NIHPS Household questionnaire Individual questionnaire –Marital, fertility and employment history Self-completion questionnaire –GHQ –Attitudes to marriage/homosexuality/life/partner/friend- ships

Wave 3 of the NIHPS Household questionnaire Individual questionnaire –Parenting Self-completion questionnaire –GHQ –Attitudes to aspects of family life/life in general

There are 8 files for NI Wave 1 –KHHSAMP –KHHRESP –KINDALL –KINDSAMP –KINDRESP –KEGOALT –KINCOME –KJOBHIST

The 8 files are linked by 3 key variables –PID (Personal Identification) –KHID (Household Identification) –KPNO (Person Number within household) PID is a unique person number (all waves) KHID and KPNO – wave specific numbers

KHHSAMP –contains fieldwork control, interview outcome and weighting information –one record for each issued household KHHRESP –contains data from the household questionnaire and household level information for respondent households –one record for each household

KINDSAMP –contains information on the survey outcome for all individuals in a household KINDALL –contains individual level variables derived from the Household Composition Form –the only file that contains individual level data on children and other non-respondents

KINDRESP –contains individual data from full and proxy questionnaires –all those who were eligible and who took part in the survey KEGOALT –provides a mechanism for identifying the relationship of each individual in a household to all others –two records for each relationship pair

KINCOME –benefit payment data –one record for each payment recorded at a list of specified sources KJOBHIST –contains information from the employment history section of the questionnaire

Weighting the data –Several weight variables for NIHPS Wave 1 which adjust for non-response KXHWTSW2 –Household weight KXRWTSW2 –Respondent individual weight KXEWTSW2 –Enumerated individual weight

Weighting the NI data within the BHPS (Cross-sectional weights) –scaled so as ensure that the NI sample contains the expected proportion of the UK population KXHWTSW1 (Households) KXRWTSW1 (Respondents) KXEWTSW1 (Enumerated individuals)

How to Access the Data Download Wave 11 BHPS data from UK Data Archive (includes NIHPS Wave 1) NI User Group Will be established as a forum for exchanging ideas, problems, solutions