Using survey data to research family relationships

1. Using survey data to research family relationships Angela Dale University of Manchester

2. Why would you? • Are family relationships well captured by surveys? • Yes and • No

3. The ‘yes’ bits • Surveys are good at capturing family structure and composition • Especially when the family is defined as being co-resident • Asking for information on everyone living together – and their relationships • Many surveys use a household matrix to capture the relationship of each person to allothers in the household

4. Making linkages

5. Relationships of other household members to person 1 (hholds with >1 person) How are the people in your household related to each other? 1 Spouse 4,905 2 Cohabitee 892 3 Son or daughter 6,319 4 Step-son/daughter 272 5 Foster child 11 6 Son/daughter-in-law 42 7 Parent/guardian 99 8 Step-parent 3 9 Foster-parent 0 10 Parent-in-law 23 11 Brother/sister 86 12 Step-brother/sister 2 13 Foster brother/sister 0 14 Brother/sister-in-law 13 15 Grandchild 144 16 Grand-parent 5 17 Other relative 32 18 Other non-relative 337 19 Civil Partner 6 Notes: adopted children are included with natural children. Source: GHS 2006, R01 – relationship to person 1

6. Household type F (grouped) GHS, 2006 1 1 person only 2,722 2 2+ unrelated adults 549 3 married couple with dependent children 7,267 4 married couple, independent children 1,661 5 married couple, no children 5,208 6 lone parent, dependent children 1,937 7 lone parent, independent children 579 8 2+ families 460 9 same sex cohabitees 71 10 cohabiting couple, dependent children 1,265 11 cohabiting couple, independent children 53 12 cohabiting couple, no children 1,054

7. More ‘yes’ bits • Understanding family processes is crucial to much social science • Effects of parental characteristics on child outcomes, eg educational attainment, obesity • Social mobility and the role of parental networks, informal support • Informal caring • Survey evidence provides one, but only one, important kind of knowledge on these topics

8. Some questions • How many women aged 16-59 in Britain lived in three-generational households in 2001? • a) 2% b) 10% c) 20% • In 2001 were lone parents with dependent children more likely to be • Single, b) divorced, c) widowed,d) separated or e) married?

9. Answers • How many women aged 16-59 in Britain lived in three-generational households in 2001? • a) 2% b) 10% c) 20% • In 2001 were lone parents with dependent children more likely to be a) Single (39%), b) divorced (35%), c) widowed (5%) d) separated (18%), e)married (3%)?

10. Answers - Bangladeshis • How many women aged 16-59 in Britain lived in three-generational households in 2001? • a) 2% b) 10% c) 20% • In 2001 were lone parents with dependent children more likely to be a) Single (5%), b) divorced (12%), c) widowed (39%) or d) separated (23) married (30)?

11. Who are you interested in? • Surveys allow you to explore: • Children - how do children’s educational outcomes relate to the number of siblings they have? • Partnerships – movement in and out of partnerships • the elderly – do they live alone or with other kin? Is this changing? How does it vary with socio-economic characteristics? With ethnicity? • Women – how is women’s employment influenced by that of their partner?

12. The benefits of surveys • You can use large good quality surveys someone else has collected • You can get a nationally representative picture of the topic of interest • You can make comparisons between groups based on the same questions • You can make your own definitions of family – but depends on questions asked and answers recorded

13. Family relationships: the ‘no’ bits • Surveys set their own agenda and ask everyone the same questions • Although good pilot work finds out salient issues from respondents you cannot pursue interesting answers; you cannot ask ‘why’ and ‘how’ and ‘what does it feel like’ • Respondents do not have their own voice • Some surveys provide space for write-ins

14. Family relationships: the ‘no’ bits • The family is the site of conflict, intimacy, affection, rivalry ….. • Surveys cannot capture the depth of these relationships • Surveys are not good at capturing ambivalence

15. Getting the best of both worlds? • Can one combine the strengths of surveys with the strengths of qualitative methods? • Yes, there are many good examples, but don’t forget that different methods produce different knowledge

16. Surveys can provide a context for qualitative research • background information about the locality of a study • Information on the demographic structure of a group, or their socio-economic characteristics • Published data – or simple on-line extraction - can often give you exactly what you need

17. Surveys can identify questions which need qualitative research • Surveys often throw up puzzles which need deeper, qualitative work to answer • eg why do many Pakistani and Bangladeshi women have low levels of economic activity? • Survey analysis can help to target a theoretical sample for deeper and richer analysis • Eg a comparison between key groups of Pakistani and white women • Analysis can be integrated, eg • survey analysis-> quali work -> better model with survey data

18. Exploring differences • Surveys and qualitative methods can give conflicting accounts • Different methods generate different kinds of knowledge, so not surprising • But deeper interrogation using both methods can be very valuable • Can lead to greater understanding than either methods along • Neither method is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ but each can generate important questions for the other

19. How to have a go • The Economic and Social Data Service provide access and support to many different surveys • Cross-section and longitudinal • Wide range of topics • On-line quick and easy access

20. www.esds.ac.uk • Introductory workshops • Web-based resources • Getting started Guides • Guides to SPSS and STATA • Methodological Guides • Helpdesk