This working paper describes an experimental collaboration between members of the PSE team, the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland and communities from some of the most deprived wards in Northern Ireland. It's aim was to link local experiences to a national research project and to share their findings via digital media tools, such as the PSE website.
This working paper provides a review of the qualitative evidence base relating to the experience of poverty and social exclusion in the UK for which to date few systematic reviews exist. Its principal objective is to identify gaps in the current evidence base in order to inform the design and conduct of the Phase II Qualitative Research of the PSE 2011, ‘Understanding Experiences of Low Income During Recession’. It is also intended that the review will act as a resource for further aspects of PSE UK research.
The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK (PSE: UK) survey will re-interview respondents to the 2010/11 Family Resources Survey (FRS) who have provided permission to be contacted again. A sampling frame is required to select a minimum achieved sample of 4,000 households and 6,000 individuals in Britain and a minimum achieved sample of 1,000 households and 1,500 individuals in Northern Ireland. This paper sets out details of the sampling frame to be used.
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.
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)’.
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.
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.
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.
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.