1. Government sources
There is a considerable amount of
information at the national level on the ONS website:
For example, data at the national level
is available on Sport and Physical Activity:
A very useful source for national data on
'Lifestyle' and its changes over time is Social Trends
(e.g. Social Trends 2004):
Social trends is an established reference source, and draws together
social and economic data from a wide range of government departments and
other organisations; it paints a broad picture of British society today,
and how it has been changing.
The 2004 edition includes sections on Health and
Lifestyle including:
Health - Key Indicators
- Infection diseases
- Diet and related health
- Alcohol, drugs and smoking
- Cancer
- Mental health
- Sexual health
Lifestyle and Social Participation
- Everyday tasks
- Leisure activities
- e-Society and communication
- Holidays and tourism
- Sporting activities
- Social participation
- Religion
Another very useful source is the UK 2000
Time Use Survey:
This research was conducted on behalf
of a consortium consisting of; the Economic and Social
Research Council; the Department of Culture, Media and
Sport; the Department for Education and Skills; the
Department of Health; the Department of Transport, Local
Government and the Regions; and the Office for National
Statistics
The main aim of the survey is to
measure the amount of time spend by the UK population on
various activities. The UK 2000 Time Use Survey
was the first time that a major survey of this type has
been conducted in the UK The Department of Health now groups the
outputs from a number of surveys it commissions under
the 'Lifestyle Surveys' umbrella:
2. Consumer Lifestyle Survey Data
Consumer lifestyle data is collected and
made available commercially by a number of data
agencies. These often have a focus of providing
data to the Direct Marketing industry.
Consumer lifestyle data is collected
using large scale self-completion surveys, often to
around several million households in the UK. With
response rates of around 10-20%, these databases can be
comprehensive in terms of coverage, but potentially
having a biased response to the surveys. Also
remember that the data is collected largely for
marketing purposes and targeting consumers - the
questions in the survey are clearly influenced by this.
Using this source, a number of options
are available:
- To buy local data for specific
relevant questions from the databases.
- To sponsor specific questions in
future data collection surveys
An example of a provider of Lifestyle
data is Consumer Data, owned by Wegener Direct, one of
the UK's largest suppliers to the DM industry.
They have a database now in the UK of
over 20 millions individuals and over 200 variables and
4000 characteristics per customer record for selection |
