Summary information

Study title

Crime Survey for England and Wales, 1996-2020: Secure Access

Creator

Office for National Statistics

Study number / PID

7280 (UKDA)

10.5255/UKDA-SN-7280-12 (DOI)

Data access

Restricted

Series

Not available

Abstract

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.Background: The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), previously known as the British Crime Survey (BCS), has been in existence since 1981. The survey traditionally asks a sole randomly selected adult, in a random sample of households, details pertaining to any instances where they, or the household, has been a victim of a crime in the previous 12 months. These are recorded in the victim form data file (VF). A wide range of questions are then asked covering demographics and crime-related subjects such as attitudes to the police and the criminal justice system (CJS). Most of the questionnaire is completed in a face-to-face interview in the respondent's home; these variables are contained within the non-victim form (NVF) data file. Since 2009, the survey has been extended to children aged 10-15 years old; one resident of that age range has also been selected at random from the household and asked about incidents where they have been a victim of crime, and other related topics. The first set of children's data, covering January-December 2009, had experimental status, and is held separately under SN 6601. From 2009-2010, the children's data cover the same period as the adult data and are included with the main dataset. Further information may be found on the ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales web page and for the previous BCS, from the GOV.UK BCS Methodology web page. Self-completion data: A series of questions on drinking behaviour, drug use and intimate personal violence (including stalking and sexual victimisation) are administered to adults via a self-completion module which the respondent completes on a laptop computer. Children aged 10-15 years also complete a separate self-completion questionnaire. The questions are contained within the main questionnaire documents, but the data are not available with the main survey; they are available only under Secure Access conditions....
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Methodology

Data collection period

01/04/1996 - 31/03/2020

Country

England and Wales

Time dimension

Repeated cross-sectional study

Analysis unit

Individuals
National

Universe

Adults aged 16 and over in private households in England and Wales, and (from 2009) children aged 10-15 years resident in the same households. See documentation for further details.

Sampling procedure

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Kind of data

Numeric

Data collection mode

Face-to-face interview
Self-administered questionnaire
Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Access

Publisher

UK Data Service

Publication year

2013

Terms of data access

The Data Collection is available to users registered with the UK Data Service.

Commercial use is not permitted.

Use of the data requires approval from the data owner or their nominee. Registered users must apply for access via a DEA Research Project Application.

Registered users must complete the Safe Researcher Training course and gain DEA Accredited Researcher Status.

Registered users must be based in the UK when accessing data.

The Data Collection must be accessed via a secure connection method in a safe environment approved by the UK Data Service.