Understanding Society User Support

01/29/2026

02:06 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2320: Parliamentary Constituency Codes

Hi Stuart,
Wave 16 will use the May 2025 ONSPD. Since the Westminster parliamentary constituency (PCON) boundary c... Understanding Society User Support Team

01:59 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2323 (Feedback): Question with regard to the variable nwage_dv

nwage_dv is just a household headcount, not an employment or income measure. It’s created from the individual-level a... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/28/2026

05:10 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2325 (In Progress): Joining and weighting youth, adults and households

Hi Akansha,
Please have a look at these past similar queries to see if these answer your question:
https://iser... Understanding Society User Support Team

04:01 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2323: Question with regard to the variable nwage_dv

Hi Nico,
I want to double-check if I correctly understand your question. Are you surprised by the number of househ... Understanding Society User Support Team

03:39 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2324: ukborn variable

Hi Emily,
Below a comparison of the 2024 release of SN6614 and 2025 downloaded yesterday using dta (Stata) files. ... Understanding Society User Support Team

03:06 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2321: linking responsible adult to youth

Hi Akansha,
I see. Adresp15_dv give you the person number of person responsible for child under 16, that is, their... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/27/2026

04:51 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2306: hstotmg outstanding or total mortgage secured?

Hi Selçuk,
I'm sorry for the delay in replying to you. The reply from the questionnaire team:
"Yes, it’s the cu... Understanding Society User Support Team

04:46 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2324 (Feedback): ukborn variable

Hi Emily,
The numbers in the latest wave files should align with the numbers on the website. From what I can see, ... Understanding Society User Support Team

04:37 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #1874: Issue with religion variable in wave 12

Hi Ekaterina,
We will investigate this and get back to you.
Best wishes,
Piotr Marzec
UKHLS User Support Understanding Society User Support Team

04:32 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2321 (Feedback): linking responsible adult to youth

Hi Akansha,
To link youth to themselves across waves, use their PIDP. To link to their parents, the easiest way is... Understanding Society User Support Team

04:23 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2322 (Feedback): inapplicable in fwintvd_dv

Hi Emily,
fwintvd_dv is derived from the wave-level individual interview outcome variable (w_ivfio), taking the fi... Understanding Society User Support Team

03:30 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2320 (Feedback): Parliamentary Constituency Codes

Hi Stuart,
In Wave 15, the May 2024 release of ONSPD was used (see https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/wp-conte... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/26/2026

09:44 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #2307: Questions about 'pensioner_dv' and 'pensioner'

Hello Bingqing,
As a follow-up to my previous response, both variables are calculated using government-defined rul... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/23/2026

09:22 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #1874 (Feedback): Issue with religion variable in wave 12

Hello Katya,
This issue was addressed and fixed in the Wave 13 release (November 2023) and has not appeared again si... Understanding Society User Support Team

01:21 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2319 (Feedback): Net Household Income Data in the BHPS and UKHLS

Hello Nico,
If net income is not essential, note that there is a gross household income variable harmonised across... Understanding Society User Support Team

12:12 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2317 (Feedback): Variable for childless

Hello Charlie,
You might want to check variable ch1by_dv, which measures the birth year of the first (biological) ... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/22/2026

12:05 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2318 (Feedback): Missing variables in data set

Hello Marie,
The dataset you need is SN6614: Understanding Society – Waves 1–15 (2009–2024) and Harmonised BHPS – ... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/21/2026

03:10 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2313 (Feedback): Wave 14 changes: age_dv and indscg2_xw

Hello Nina,
In general, new wave releases may include updates to earlier waves, such as the addition or removal of... Understanding Society User Support Team

10:58 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #2074 (Resolved): Longitudinal weights

Understanding Society User Support Team

10:56 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #2316 (Feedback): Removal of Variables from Mainstage Variable Search

Hello Joe
I can confirm variables voteintent (voting intention) and vote7 (voted in last general election) are sti... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/19/2026

09:56 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2313 (In Progress): Wave 14 changes: age_dv and indscg2_xw

Hello Nina,
We are still doing some checks on your query and expect to be able to provide you with an answer later... Understanding Society User Support Team

12:48 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2315 (Feedback): Basrate / payu - hourly pay

Hello Eleanor,
basrate is a direct question from the Employees module questionnaire and is asked of respondents wh... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/15/2026

12:54 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2312: hrpid variable

Hello Monica,
The variable hrpno also has issues, so I would recommend not using it for the time being.
Best wi... Understanding Society User Support Team

12:12 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2248: Some queries r.e. issues with SOC 2000 and 2010 variables

Hello Tom,
It was not possible to include the changes in this release. Work on them is ongoing, and the current ai... Understanding Society User Support Team

11:53 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #2314 (Feedback): Wave 6 weight selection

Hello Nina,
Both options are correct, and the choice depends on which sample you want to represent. Weights ending... Understanding Society User Support Team

10:08 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #1941 (Feedback): Employee (jbpen + jbpenm) and personal (ppen + ppreg) pensions in Understanding Society - query re. some wave data

Hello Thomas,
The variable ppen is part of the Personal Pensions module questionnaire. This module was asked in th... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/14/2026

10:52 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #2312 (Feedback): hrpid variable

Hello Monica,
I can confirm that the variable hrpid was removed from the different files because it was incorrectl... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/12/2026

03:43 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2311 (Feedback): Food Insecurity Experience Scale scoring

Hello Akansha,
Understanding Society includes all eight items of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES): ateles... Understanding Society User Support Team

01/09/2026

04:20 PM Understanding Society User Support Support #2310 (Feedback): Why cannot merge indall datasets with hhresp datasets on 2000-3000 obs?

Hello Bing,
Individuals who do not match a household are those who did not respond to a household questionnaire an... Understanding Society User Support Team

11:15 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #2309 (Feedback): Are samples in indresp datasets nationally representative?

Hello Bing,

As you correctly mentioned, indall contains information for all individuals in the household, includi... Understanding Society User Support Team

10:27 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #2308 (Feedback): Choose a correct weight for analysis

Hello Bing,
As the user guide mentioned (https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/mainstage/user-guide... Understanding Society User Support Team

08:27 AM Understanding Society User Support Support #2307 (Feedback): Questions about 'pensioner_dv' and 'pensioner'

Hello Bingqing,
The variables pensioner_dv and pensioner produce different information mainly because *_dv variabl... Understanding Society User Support Team