The GHS now consists of two elements: the Continuous Survey and Trailers.
The Continuous Survey is to remain unchanged for the five-year period April 2000 to March 2005, apart from certain essential modifications that take into account, for example, changes in benefits and pensions.
It consists of a household questionnaire, to be answered by the household reference person (see Appendix A) or spouse, and an individual questionnaire to be completed by all adults aged 16 and over who are resident in the household.
The household questionnaire covers the following topics: demographic information about household members, household and family information, household accommodation, housing tenure, access to and ownership of consumer durables, including vehicles, and migration.
The individual questionnaire includes sections on: employment, pensions, education, health and use of health services, smoking, drinking in the last seven days, family information, including marriage, cohabitation and fertility history, income.
The modular structure of the GHS allows for a number of trailers to be included each year to a plan agreed by its sponsors. The trailers included in the 2002/2003 survey were sports and leisure, contraception, hearing.
For further background information about the General Household Survey, please download the Introduction PDF on the right-hand side of the page.
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About the survey