BHPS sample

Understanding Society incorporated the sample of the long-running British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) in the second round of interviews, which started in January 2010.

Members of this sub-sample of Understanding Society have a long history of participating in longitudinal research. A sample of addresses was initially drawn for the 1991 BHPS survey, and all individuals in participating households at 'round one' have been followed and, where eligible, an attempt has been made to re-interview them annually. 

The initial samples were randomly selected from the Postcode Address File to be nationally representative. In 1999 boost samples were drawn in Scotland and Wales, and in 2001 a booster sample was drawn in Northern Ireland. More detailed information on the BHPS sample is available in the publication Choosing a longitudinal survey design: the issues and in Chapter 4 of the BHPS User Manual.