ARK: Longitudinal panel surveys in Northern Ireland

Longitudinal panel studies in Northern Ireland

Longitudinal surveys follow the same group of people (the 'panel') over time. In Northern Ireland, two major longitudinal surveys provide a opportunity to look at all adults within a sample of households:

The Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey (NIHPS), which ran from 2001 to 2008.
Understanding Society, which replaces the NIHPS, and began in 2009.

The advantages of these surveys over other surveys carried out in Northern Ireland arethat:

they follow the same representative sample of individuals over a period of years;
they are household-based, interviewing every adult member (aged 16 years or over) in the sampled households;
comparable data are available for Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.

This section provides further information on the Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey, and Understanding Society.