Family Resources Survey Data Collection Methods Jo Maher (National Centre for Social Research) Tom Howe (Office for National Statistics)

The FRS Consortium Office for National Statistics (ONS) and National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) work in Consortium and each organisation is responsible for particular areas of the data collection process. Both organisations share fieldwork equally. ONS: Sampling Data merging Data Quality assurance Reporting Interview timings NatCen:Question design Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) Cognitive question testing Reporting non-Response

Sampling UK Sample for 2006/07 was approx 44,000 households for England & Wales and Scotland Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) conduct fieldwork separately Fieldwork split equally between ONS and NatCen PPS with a Scottish boost Stratified by: Government Office Region (GOR) Proportion of HRPs in NSSEC 1-3 Economic status of adults aged 16-74

Annual question changes Questionnaire changes each year Changes made at request of: Sponsor (DWP) Data users (HMRC and other government departments) Consortium interviewers

The FRS interview Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) Divided into household and benefit unit interview All adults interviewed Proxy interviews permitted Questions about children (e.g. health, deprivation questions) are answered by parents/guardians.

Interview topics 2007/8 Household interview Household composition Accommodation & tenure Housing costs Charges on property Sewerage and water Within household contribution Childcare arrangements Informal caring

Interview topics 2007/8 Benefit Unit interview Health & disabilities Education, grants & loans Children outside household Employment Tax credits Pension arrangements Income from benefits Income from pensions, trusts, royalties Maintenance allowances and other sources of income Adult and child social deprivation Household durables - televisions Income from savings and investments Total savings Assets

Timetable of changes Apr - New survey year begins Jun - Field report questionnaire sent to Aug - NatCen send Field Report to DWP Sep - Information Priorities Group meet Oct - Question changes discussed with DWP Nov - Question changes designed Dec - Question changes programmed Jan - CAPI program testing Mar - Final CAPI program sent to interviewers

CAPI Interviews conducted as Computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) CAPI programmed in Blaise Allows complex routing CAPI allows checks to be made of the answers given during interview Increases flexibility in question wording (e.g. text fills can be used to insert the respondents name into the question) Also allows data to be stored confidentially

Cognitive question testing Major revisions to the FRS are tested Cognitive question testing employed Explore respondent understanding of questions Findings inform final question design

CAPI Interview length

Total Interview length

Data Merging ONS merge edited Blaise data from ONS, NatCen and NISRA Merge uses manipula scripts Checks to ensure data formatted as DWP require Merged data produced in 25 SPSS tables for data QA

Data Quality Assurance Monthly datasets are subjected to a series of rigorous checks Checks ensure data is consistent at person and household level Credibility and outlier checks Edits made to data following checks

Non-response Information collected by interviewers Observation questions about accommodation for refusal and non-contact households further observation for refusal households only Questions asked on non-response form and recorded in CAPI 63% completion rate of non-response form in 2004/5

Refusal households Tend to be smaller than responding households Less likely than respondent households to be comprised of single adults with children Less likely to contain children than respondent households More likely than respondent households to be comprised of adults of the same age group, rather than adults of different age groups. More likely to contain a paid working adult than respondent households.

Data collection and fieldwork Advance letters Purpose leaflets Instructions CAPI questionnaire and showcards Ask for and record accurate information

Further Information Further information on FRS data collection available in the FRS Technical Report 2005/06 FRS Technical Report published in March Available on NS website

Any Questions?