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- Textbooks for Research Methods and Data Analysis
- 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
- 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
- 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
- 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
- 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
- 2: Survey Research Practice
- 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
- 2b: Major survey series
- 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
- 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
- 5a: Polytechnic of North London (1976-1992)
- 5b: Survey Research Unit (1978-1992)
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ONS National Well-being
[New page 2 May 2015: last updated 14 April 2020]
Unrestricted Access Teaching Dataset
Office for National Statistics (ONS) Opinions Survey, Well‐Being Module
(Teaching data set distributed by UK Data Service as SN7146: 24 variables, 1124 cases)
1: Unrestricted Access Teaching Dataset (SN 7146)
(ONS Opinions Survey, Well‐Being Module, April 2011)
Data set and user guide from the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, Manchester now renamed the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research,
This is one of several data sets distributed by UKDS for which I have prepared detailed introductions to, and critical commentaries, on the SPSS files and documentation, and which I covered in Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind my presentation to ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe) at York in October 2014. (See: SN 7146 1 Introduction and Commentary)
This data set was originally created at the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, (now Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research) Manchester, and was intended for teaching multivariate analysis using Principal Components Analysis and Factor Analysis. This dataset contains a selection of variables from the April 2011 wave of the ONS Opinions Survey, Well-Being Module, April - August 2011 (SN 6893) which in turn is part of the regular government survey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, run in various guises since 1990
For undergraduate teaching in sociology and related subjects, especially beginners, multivariate statistical analysis is probably too ambitious. At this level the aim should be to impart, not inferential statistics, but basic skills in data handling and analysis (using software packages such as SPSS) and be restricted to tabulation and charts, perhaps working up to some statistical testing. A different pedagogical approach, which, in my experience, beginners can more easily understand and learn, is to adopt the logic of dependent, independent and test variables, analysing first one variable, then two, then three or more, and to start with charts, %% in tabulation (and where appropriate, comparison of means) rather than multivariate modelling based on correlation matrices.
Accordingly I am currently developing learning materials based on this and other surveys which are. or will soon be, available to fellow teachers, students and researchers. I have just added :
Notes on first encounter with the ONS unrestricted teaching data set (pdf, 55pp. 3.15 kb)
This is a completely revised version (14 April 2020) with an extended Proposal for an Enhanced Teaching File incorporating earlier documents from 2014, 2015 and 2017:
SN 7146 1 Notes on first encounter (pdf 21pp)
SN 7146 2 Introduction and Commentary (pdf 19pp)
SN 7146 3 Enhanced teaching file (pdf 10pp)
Later there will be exercises to download additional data, merge them with the teaching file and perform various data management and data analysis tasks..
A related entry (draft only) is:
Patterns of individual responses on 0-10 scales (pdf 32pp)
Examines the use of 0—10 scales in selected surveys, demonstrates variations in individual response patterns and discuss problems this may pose for statistical analysis. Data sources used are:
SSRC Quality of Life in Britain (1971-1975)
ONS Well-being survey, Unrestricted Access Teaching Data Set (April 2011)
ONS Well-being survey (merged data set April – August 2011)
British Social Attitudes (2008 and 2013)
European Social Survey (Wave 6, 2012)
Unrestricted Access Teaching Dataset
Office for National Statistics (ONS) Opinions Survey, Well‐Being Module
(Teaching data set distributed by UK Data Service as SN7146: 24 variables, 1124 cases)
1: Unrestricted Access Teaching Dataset (SN 7146)
(ONS Opinions Survey, Well‐Being Module, April 2011)
Data set and user guide from the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, Manchester now renamed the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research,
This is one of several data sets distributed by UKDS for which I have prepared detailed introductions to, and critical commentaries, on the SPSS files and documentation, and which I covered in Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind my presentation to ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe) at York in October 2014. (See: SN 7146 1 Introduction and Commentary)
This data set was originally created at the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, (now Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research) Manchester, and was intended for teaching multivariate analysis using Principal Components Analysis and Factor Analysis. This dataset contains a selection of variables from the April 2011 wave of the ONS Opinions Survey, Well-Being Module, April - August 2011 (SN 6893) which in turn is part of the regular government survey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, run in various guises since 1990
For undergraduate teaching in sociology and related subjects, especially beginners, multivariate statistical analysis is probably too ambitious. At this level the aim should be to impart, not inferential statistics, but basic skills in data handling and analysis (using software packages such as SPSS) and be restricted to tabulation and charts, perhaps working up to some statistical testing. A different pedagogical approach, which, in my experience, beginners can more easily understand and learn, is to adopt the logic of dependent, independent and test variables, analysing first one variable, then two, then three or more, and to start with charts, %% in tabulation (and where appropriate, comparison of means) rather than multivariate modelling based on correlation matrices.
Accordingly I am currently developing learning materials based on this and other surveys which are. or will soon be, available to fellow teachers, students and researchers. I have just added :
Notes on first encounter with the ONS unrestricted teaching data set (pdf, 55pp. 3.15 kb)
This is a completely revised version (14 April 2020) with an extended Proposal for an Enhanced Teaching File incorporating earlier documents from 2014, 2015 and 2017:
SN 7146 1 Notes on first encounter (pdf 21pp)
SN 7146 2 Introduction and Commentary (pdf 19pp)
SN 7146 3 Enhanced teaching file (pdf 10pp)
Later there will be exercises to download additional data, merge them with the teaching file and perform various data management and data analysis tasks..
A related entry (draft only) is:
Patterns of individual responses on 0-10 scales (pdf 32pp)
Examines the use of 0—10 scales in selected surveys, demonstrates variations in individual response patterns and discuss problems this may pose for statistical analysis. Data sources used are:
SSRC Quality of Life in Britain (1971-1975)
ONS Well-being survey, Unrestricted Access Teaching Data Set (April 2011)
ONS Well-being survey (merged data set April – August 2011)
British Social Attitudes (2008 and 2013)
European Social Survey (Wave 6, 2012)