Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Understanding Society, (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

The Understanding Society Spending Study 2 was conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex. The purpose of the study was to test ways to increase participation in mobile data collection. The study comprised two separate sample groups: adult sample members of the Understanding Society Innovation Panel (see SN 6849) and members of the Lightspeed UK Online Access Panel. Respondents in both sample groups were invited to download an app on their smartphone to provide daily updates on their spending for 31 days. Those who did not download the app were invited to complete a daily browser-based online diary. Data for the Innovation Panel sample were collected between May 2018 and February 2019. Data for the Lightspeed UK Online Access Panel sample were collected between July 2018 and January 2019.

Further information about the Spending Study, including links to publications and documents, can be found on the ISER Understanding household finance through better measurement webpage.

Household expenditure; Survey methods experiment.