At Wave 13 respondents that have identified as having a partner living apart were asked for that partner’s contact details (sample 1). These questions were added to the end of the existing module asking about non-resident relationships. The added questions were not experimental in nature – every respondent identifying a non-resident partner was asked the questions. The additional questions collected contact details of these partners in a manner similar to questions asked in the Stable Contact Details module. The request made it clear that the information collected would potentially be used to invite these partners to answer a survey, with no information about the respondent being given other than to say they gave the contact details. The new questions are in the questionnaire module scalat_ip13. Only a small percentage of respondents provided usable contact details for their partners.
At Wave 14 this module was improved and repeated but with an experimental component (samples 2 and 3) as described in the experiment Asking for Living Apart Together partner details. Again, only a small percentage of participants provided usable contact details.
Following Wave 14, all IP13 and IP14 participants who were in a living apart together (LAT) relationship, and those partners for whom they had provided contact details, were invited to take part in a 15-20 minute web survey between March and May 2022. The aims of this survey were four-fold to:
- trial approaching ‘significant others’ to participate in data collection;
- gather comprehensive information from LAT couples to enhance data collected from existing sample members’ lives;
- create unique opportunity for research on such couples.
- test new content for LAT relationships to inform future waves.
A dedicated web page for the Couples Living Apart Survey was created for participants with tailored videos aimed at explaining the survey in more detail and the research and policy value of participating in the study. This contained links to participant information sheet.
Participants were offered a £5 gift voucher or option to make a charitable donation for completing the survey.
Of the 252 sample members in LAT relationships invited to take part, 8% reported they were no longer in a LAT relationship; 73% did not reply to the invitation, and 19% took part. Among the 36 partners of sample members for whom we had contact details, 5% replied to say they were no longer in a LAT relationship with the sample member, 86% did not respond and 8% took part.
See the Non-experimental studies section 9 Asking for Parents Living Apart other parent details, for information on similar content associated with a different group of respondents — parents living apart.
Table LAT survey fieldwork
| Action | Date |
| Survey invites via letter and email (samples 1 and 2) | 31 March 2022 |
| Reminder 1 sent to all sample members not completing survey (samples 1 and 2) | 23 April 2022 |
| Reminder 2 sent to sample members (sample 1) | 6 May 2022 |
| Request for contact details email/letter sent (sample 3) | 4 April 2022 |
| Reminder request for details (sample 3) | 23 April 2022 |
| Survey invites sent to remaining non-coresident partners (sample 3) | May 2022 |
The participant letters and information sheet are available as part of the IP data documentation.
The follow-on LATS Survey was fielded in Qualtrics. The questionnaire was based on the literature and other surveys of couples living apart together (the Generations and Gender Survey and studies by NatCen and University of Birkbeck). We shared a version for consultation with key experts in the field and more widely via social media and the website. The survey included:
- Characteristics of sample members’ partner living apart
- Age, gender, ethnicity, religion, national identity, country of birth, citizenship, health and education level directly asked of significant other (rather than partner reports)
- Information on living arrangements, housing status, employment status and benefit eligibility
- Legal marital status and brief marital and cohabitation histories.
- Family dynamics within the LAT couple – existence of mutual children, coparenting
- Reasons for living apart
- How do people feel about their LAT relationship
- How do LAT relationships function and do they provide financial, practical and emotional support to each other
- Future intentions – e.g. intention to move, live together, marry.
- The impact (if any) of the COVID-19 pandemic on these relationships
We also sought feedback relating to:
- The nature and appropriateness of the questions;
- Willingness to participate in possible future studies;
The full questionnaire is available as part of the IP data documentation, along with the other IP questionnaires.
