Geographical data linkage - Understanding Society

Understanding Society can be linked to geographical data. The Study provides a range of geographical identifiers and linked geographical data.

Details of the geographical identifiers and geographical classifications datasets available in Understanding Society and how they can be used, can be found in the following document:

Geographical Data User Guide

All these data files include the wave-specific household identifier (w_hidp) and one or more geographical locator variables as indicated by the filenames.

Details of how the geographical identifiers are derived for each wave together with statistics on matches can be found in the following document:

Geographical Lookup Tables

We have provided the distribution of responding or enumerated households by local authorities (Local and Unitary Authorities in England and Wales, Council Areas in Scotland and District Council Areas in Northern Ireland) in Wave 1, Wave 6 and Wave 11.

Each link below will direct you to the UK Data Service – on these pages you can download the data by adding them to your basket. The Study protects the confidentiality of its participants’ data which means access to some datasets is restrictive.

Main Survey

In the Standard End User Licence we provide country, Government Office Region (GOR) and condensed urban-rural classification.

Understanding Society: End User Licence

If you need to access the more restricted Special Licence or Secure versions for other reasons these codes are also included.

COVID-19 Study

Our COVID-19 data has been linked to Census 2011 Lower Layer Super Output Areas and Local Authority Districts.

Innovation Panel

Understanding Society has produced data files with information to link the Innovation Panel survey data with geographic units including Local Authority Districts, Area Classification for Output Areas, Travel to Work Areas, Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies, Local Education Authorities, and Primary Care Trusts.

Innovation Panel: Special Licence Access

Using our geographical linked data

We have linked a number of neighbourhood indicators using the responding households’ address information.

Linking your own geographical data

You can also access the official geocodes and enrich the study with your own data at these geographical levels. All these data files include the wave-specific household identifier (w_hidp) and one or more geographical locator variables as indicated by the filenames.

Linking Understanding Society to open data sources

We have created a list of open data sources that can be linked to Understanding Society data. The list is not exhaustive and it will be updated periodically. We value your feedback! If you have any comments or questions or you would like to propose a data linkage that we are not already pursuing, let us know.

Download the list of open data sources (xlsx)

If you would like to start linking to geographical data, this webinar introduces the resources that are available and provides a guide on how to link.