The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Social exclusion
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07/06/2012
Cognitive Testing of the 2011 UK Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey
This paper summarises findings derived from a series of twenty cognitive interviews conducted with members of the UK general public in June and July 2011 as part of the design process for the PSE: UK main survey questionnaire. Cognitive interviewing is designed to identify cognition, recall, judgement and response problems associated with survey questions, as well as to identify any sensitivity issues arising for respondents. The aim of this work is to reduce misinterpretation and confusion created by unclear questions and thereby to help reduce measurement error in the estimates derived from the sample survey data.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
Social Exclusion and Mental Health: Review of Literature and Existing Surveys
Mental health problems can impact on social exclusion as a result of lack of financial resources and because of the effects of illness, including low self-esteem, loss of social contacts due to hospitalisation or the impact of illness on sociability, or the stigma experienced by many of those affected by mental illness. However, poverty and social exclusion are also likely to lead to an increased risk of mental health difficulties, such as the result of stress or managing on a low income, living circumstances, local environment, discrimination and decreased opportunities for positive self-esteem. In this survey the primary approach will be to use a well-validated instrument, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) 12 to indicate the presence or absence of symptoms of what are often described as ‘common mental disorders (CMDs)’.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
Indicators of Social Participation
This paper explores the definition of poverty, based on the concept that people are poor if they are prevented through lack of resources from carrying out obligations that are associated with their social role. The paper investigates which common social roles are found in social surveys and which activities are associated with these roles. It looks at ways of capturing participation in common social activities.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
Public Perceptions of Poverty, Social Exclusion and Living Standards: Preliminary Report on Focus Group Findings
This report describes the results of a series of fourteen focus groups conducted as part of development work for the PSE: UK survey. This qualitative development work is intended to inform the design of both the necessities Omnibus module and the main-stage PSE living standards survey. This preliminary report focuses on participants’ perceptions of the ‘necessities of life’, i.e. those items and activities that everyone should be able to afford to have or to do in our society today and should not have to go without. The recommendations arising from this report will contribute to the selection of necessities indicators in the forthcoming Omnibus module.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
Measurement and Change in Deprivation and Exclusion in Australia: A Report on Research in Progress
This paper reports some initial results from a survey of poverty and social exclusion conducted in Australia in 2010. The analysis reported in this paper indicates that the deprivation methodology is capable of generating robust and plausible results about what constitutes the essentials of life, which can then be used to examine the nature of social disadvantage in Australia and who is most affected by it. Results from sensitivity analysis also suggest that there is value in applying alternative methods before estimating the incidence of deprivation as a robustness check, given the limitations of some aspects of the approach.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
Europe 2020 Poverty Measurement
In June 2010 the European Union adopted its first anti-poverty target and radically changed its poverty measurement methodology. These changes have significant implications for the Poverty and Social Exclusion in the United Kingdom project, which are considered in this paper.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
Economic Participation in the PSE survey
The aim of this paper is to provide the rationale for the aspects of work that need to be covered, and to identify suitable questions for the main PSE survey to gather the required data. Where possible, it will look to build on questions and instruments that have been used in previous surveys, and to use standardised definitions where these exist. When looking at paid work, data from two large surveys on employment quality are analysed to assess the suitability of various indicators.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
PSE Measures Review Paper: Children’s Deprivation Items
This paper aims to provide a critical review of the children’s items used in the PSE 1999 survey and to provide suggestions for improvements in the current survey. Two lists of deprivation items (short and long) are presented for consideration, along with an analysis of items according to the age of children and recommendations about which age groups items are relevant for. The paper is written for people who are familiar with the socially perceived necessities method.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
Housing and the Living Environment Indicators in the PSE survey
This paper discusses indicators to housing and the living environment, Domain 10 of the Bristol Social Exclusion Matrix (BSEM), for use in the Poverty and Social Exclusion survey. Indicators that capture the relationship between poverty and housing must give a good picture of the following main areas: the physical quality of housing; the degree of (over)crowdedness; the suitability for the specific needs of the household; the security of tenure and the affordability of housing. The effect of housing on other measures of poverty and social exclusion extend to the quality of the neighbourhood and the wider area in which housing is located, referred to as the living environment, which will be measured through various indicators of neighbourhood quality.
Category: Methods development -
07/06/2012
Indicators of Access to Cultural Resources, Education and Skills for the PSE Survey
This paper discusses indicators relating to Domain 4 (‘Cultural Resources’) and Domain 7 (‘Cultural Participation’) of the revised Bristol Social Exclusion Matrix (BSEM) for use in the current Poverty and Social Exclusion survey. In the BSEM, education is treated as a resource as well as an aspect of cultural participation. Questions in the PSE survey therefore need to cover both the educational resources (human capital) of the adults in the survey, i.e. their educational background, and the educational resources currently received by children.
Category: Methods development
