Ways to contact us:
- For general Study queries, please call the Participant Communications Team on 0800 252 853 or email contact@understandingsociety.ac.uk or use our online enquiry form.
- For online survey & gift card enquiries, please call our fieldwork partner, Verian, on 0800 015 2908 or email understandingsociety@veriangroup.com
- To contact your interviewer directly, please see their paper note which should have their personalised number on it.
Top FAQs
Giftcards
I’ve moved house and haven’t received my gift card
Please email contact@understandingsociety.ac.uk or call 0800 252 853.
Why won’t my gift card work?
It can take up to five working days for your gift card to be activated after your interview. If it’s still not valid after that time, please call our fieldwork partner, Verian, on 0800 015 2908 or email understandingsociety@veriangroup.com
How do I check the balance?
Use the Love2shop balance checker here
Where can I redeem my gift cards?
Please see the Love2Shop website
Online survey
How do I access the online survey?
Please click here. If you’re still having technical difficulties, please call the survey helpline on 0800 015 2908.
Is my information secure if I complete my survey online?
Yes, your survey answers are completely secure. You are issued with a unique, personal log-in for the survey and the information you enter in the interview is stored on secure servers.
I’m having log-in problems or technical difficulties, who do I contact?
Please speak to your interviewer or call our survey helpline on 0800 015 2908.
Can I stop the survey online and complete it at another time?
Yes, you can stop the survey at any point and complete it later. You will need to log back in using your username and password and you will be taken to the point in the questionnaire where you stopped your survey.
What if I get a pop-up on my mobile device while I’m completing my survey?
Your survey will never include pop-ups and we will never ask you to enter your bank details into your survey. Depending on your web browser or mobile phone security settings, pop-ups can appear when you are online, but these are never connected to your Understanding Society survey.
Moving house
We’re about to move. How do I let you know?
Please complete our online Change of Address form and you will receive a £5 voucher.
We’re moving outside the UK. Can we still take part?
No, we’re afraid not – those away or likely to be away for 6 months or more are not counted as residents at the address. However, if you return to the UK please let us know.
My interview
Please call the number on your interviewer’s appointment card. If you do not have this, please fill in our Contact Form or call 0800 252 853 ASAP.
How long does the interview take?
The average length of the adult questionnaire is between 40-60 minutes. The children’s questionnaire (for 10-15-years-olds) takes around 10-15 minutes.
Can I do my interview in another language? Yes, a translated interview is available online and with an interviewer. We can translate surveys into Bengali, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi: Gurmukhi, Punjabi: Urdu, Turkish, Urdu, and Welsh.
About the study
I would like to know more about Understanding Society
Please see our About Us page, or for further questions please email us on contact@understandingsociety.ac.uk. For regular updates on how information from the Study is being used, you can follow us on X/Twitter and Instagram, or look for our news updates on our website.
Who runs Understanding Society?
The Study is run by a team at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. Our face-to-face interviews, online and telephone surveys are delivered by Verian, NatCen and Ipsos MORI.
Who funds Understanding Society?
We are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and various government departments.
Can I send you feedback on the survey?
You can email any comments about the Study to our Participant Communications Team: contact@understandingsociety.ac.uk.
Your data
Are my data confidential?
Your interview answers are completely confidential. However, if you tell us something that makes us worried about your safety or the safety of others in your household, we may have to discuss this with somebody else as we need to be sure you are safe. The security of our participants’ information is one of the most important parts of Understanding Society. Please read our guide for more information.
Is my information linked to other data sources?
Yes, but only with your permission. Linking your interview answers to other data sources, such as education, health or employment records, makes the information you give us even more useful. You’ll be asked to give permission for linking your data as part of your interview. For more information on the different data linkage in Understanding Society please click here
My household
Can I add new household members to the survey?
Yes: we would like to speak to everyone aged 16+ who is living with you. This can be anyone, regardless of whether they have been interviewed previously.
Do you want to interview household members who live outside the household?
We would like to continue speaking to any household members who are ‘absent’ from the household but still have it as their main address – for example, people who are in hospital. If a household member moves out of the house and remains in the UK, we would like to carry on interviewing them at their new address.
Privacy
How does Understanding Society keep data safe?
We are governed by the Data Protection Act and all our procedures have data protection at the heart of them. The Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), the home of Understanding Society, is also ISO-27001 certified. This international standard upholds the best practices for information security management. Our ISO certificate requires the Study to have a wide set of rules and regulations for managing data.
Are you GDPR compliant?
Yes, we are. You can read about Understanding Society and the GDPR here.
What do you do with my personal data?
Your personal details (name, address, telephone numbers, email addresses) are only used so that we can contact you during the year to invite you to take part in the Study and to send you information on how the Study is being used by researchers and policymakers. Your personal details are never made available to researchers or to any other companies who might use them for marketing purposes. For more information please read our privacy statement.