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Access Understanding Society data

Understanding Society data are available through the UK Data Service. Researchers who would like to use Understanding Society need to register with the UK Data Service before being allowed to apply for or download datasets. 

If you use Understanding Society you must cite the data correctly. You can find information on citation here

If you are accessing Understanding Society data for the first time you may find our Pathway to Understanding Society helpful. The pathway will help you explore the datasets and show you the resources and support available to data users. 

Access Levels

There are three levels of access, depending on how disclosive the dataset that you want to use is.

End User Licence

Most researchers and analysts will only need End User Licence (EUL) access. You can directly download this version of the dataset from the UK Data Service website after you have accepted the terms and conditions of the End User Licence. You can find the EUL versions of Understanding Society here:

The EUL version excludes some variables that are considered to have a higher disclosure risk, such as day and month of birth variable, detailed country of birth variable, detailed occupation codes and geographical locators below the level of government office region. This document describes the differences between the Special Licence (SN 6931) and the End User Licence (SN 6614) versions. 

Special Licence

If you want to use the variables excluded in the EUL version then you will need to access a Special Licence (SL) version of the dataset. You can apply for access to Special Licence data through the UK Data Service. The UK Data Service has information about how to order SL data on their website. You will need to submit a form stating your research objectives and clearly explain why Special Licence data are needed for your project. Only after your application has been approved will you be granted access to the dataset. You can read the terms and conditions of Special Licence data here

If you are applying for SL data for the first time, the UK Data Service recommends that you read their guide on research data handling and security before making your application. This guide includes information on storing and accessing data securely, avoiding inadvertent statistical disclosure, and how to permanently destroy copies of data files. 

To help with your application, this blog gives guidance on getting your Special Licence application right the first time.

You can find the SL versions of Understanding Society here: 

SL geographical locators

If you want to access geographical locators lower than government office regions go to the SL version of Understanding Society and use the drop down list to see all SL version files. For example, you can find the Census 2001 Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) locator variables for Understanding Society and BHPS households here. There are two levels of geographical locator variables. Access to more detailed geographies, such as LSOA, is limited to researchers in certain countries. More information on access conditions is included in the catalogue record for the dataset. 

Secure Data Access

This level of access is needed if you want to access data with very high levels of disclosure risk, such as exact date of birth or the national grid reference of a respondent’s address. This type of data can only be accessed by approved researchers in secure settings. To use Secure Access datasets researchers must be UK based or able to access data at a limited number of non-UK Safe Rooms (please see the data access restrictions for individual Secure Access datasets for full details). Applicants must also be ESRC Accredited Researchers. You can find information on the UK Data Service SecureLab and ONS SRS here.  Users who wish to access these data from their home computer must submit an additional online agreement to the UK Data Service or ONS SRS as appropriate, where you will need to satisfy and agree to the mandated conditions.

Please note that data accessed via the ONS SRS do not contain all the variables in the equivalent study available from the UK Data Service; the variables containing organisational names have been removed at the ONS SRS. Please check the data dictionaries to confirm whether the variables you require are available.

You can find SDA versions of Understanding Society here: 

Commercial use

Commercial organisations can apply for access to Understanding Society data and are subject to the standard access procedures. For some data the terms of consent may prohibit commercial access. Commercial organisations are required to demonstrate the public benefits that are likely from the research use.

For more information on data access see the Data Access Strategy

What format is the data in?

Understanding Society data consists of multiple files in SPSS, Stata and tab delimited formats. 

How to access earlier/older versions of the data

Our main survey data is released every November. At that time we not only include the new wave of data, but also correct any data issues identified in the previous waves’ data. Any changes are summarised in the user guide page on revisions to previous releases. A few times we have identified an important issue with the data soon after it was released and instead of waiting until the next November, to help our data users, have resolved the issue and released the data as an inter-wave release. To be able to identify each separate data release, each release is assigned an edition number and a unique DOI. The complete citations of all previous versions of the data are available from the UK Data Service.

If you would like to access an older version of the data, please contact the UK Data Service Helpdesk and complete a simple form, stating that you wish to access an earlier version of the Study, give the complete citation, including the DOI, and the reason for wanting to access the earlier version of Understanding Society. The DOI is needed to provide you with the correct data files. For example: University of Essex, Institute for Social and Economic Research. (2022). Understanding Society: Waves 1-11, 2009-2020 and Harmonised BHPS: Waves 1-18, 1991-2009. [data collection]. 15th Edition. UK Data Service. SN: 6614, DOI: http://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-6614-16.

Once they have received your request, the UK Data Service will contact the Understanding Society team to get permission to allow you to access the earlier version. At this point, you may be asked for more information about the reason why you require the dataset, if the information you provided was not adequate. Once Understanding Society has approved the request, the UK Data Service will arrange the transfer of the files to you directly. You need to be registered with the UK Data Service to request access.

Need help with using Understanding Society? 

The Understanding Society dataset is large and complicated – if you are new to using Understanding Society you may benefit from a training course to help you make the best use of the dataset. For specific queries on using Understanding Society, please contact our User Support Forum.

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