Jonathan Burton
jonburton.bsky.social
Jonathan Burton
@jonburton.bsky.social

Associate Director for Surveys for Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS). Working at ISER, University of Essex pretending to be a grown-up.
https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/people/jburton

Political science 26%
Sociology 22%

Read more here:
Ethnic minority and immigrant pupils in Secondary Schools: What makes a difference to integration and reducing stereotyping www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/new...

ISER in London – presenting new research on ethnic minority and immigrant pupils in Secondary Schools @iseressex.bsky.social

Presenting of a range of new research to a selected group of campaigners, practitioners and policy makers at Broadway House in Westminster on Thursday 22 January

@slate.com - the Slate Plus Culture Gabfest seems to be only 2 seconds long this week. The Bonus podcast is there in full, and the Slate non-Plus version of the main show is there in full.

Short introductions to @usociety.bsky.social topics - www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/help/trainin...

Linked data – 5 March
Income, wealth and housing – 12 March
Health and Biomarker data - 15 April
Employment – 14 May
Family, households and children – 21 May
Linked data – 1 October

BLOG from @usociety.bsky.social
The disappearance of the hump shape in ill-being by age - Lifetime happiness trend changes as youth mental health suffers
www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/blog/2026/01...

By @xiaoweixu.bsky.social @alexbryson.bsky.social @dannyblanchy.bsky.social

Reposted by Jonathan Burton

Levels of despair have surged among the young:

'..for men under 25, despair more than doubled between 2009 and 2021. The percentage of young women in despair rose even more sharply, with most of the increase coming after 2016.'

This policy conference will focus on three themes:
- Building the early foundations
- Supporting the adolescent years
- Improving youth health and social mobility across places

Insights 2026: Children and young people’s futures

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/events/insig...

Join @usociety.bsky.social for the launch of the 2026 Insights report at a one-day policy conference on building social infrastructure to support development and reduce inequalities.

Reposted by Jonathan Burton

An Infra4NextGen #webinar being held from 11am-12.30pm (CET) next Tuesday (18 November) will focus on promoting #research amongst non-academic audiences.

The session will provide advice and practical ways to communicate findings to #policy makers and the general public.
Webinar: Bridging the gap: How to connect social research with the public and policymakers | Infra4NextGen
This webinar will explore how insights from social research can better reach and benefit both the public and policymakers.
buff.ly

Reposted by Jonathan Burton

Exploring the representativeness of web-only surveys of the general population - a new working paper from Survey Futures using analysis of Understanding Society. Read the paper: surveyfutures.net/wp-content/u...

Reposted by Jonathan Burton

Exploring youth transitions and outcomes through national datasets. Focusing on secondary, quantitative data - including Understanding Society. Join the @ncrm.ac.uk Data Resources Training Network webinar - 11 Nov, 12.00- 13.30. events.teams.microsoft.com/event/e66aa5...
Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
events.teams.microsoft.com

by Rory Fitzgerald (@surveyprof.bsky.social), Nhlanhla Ndebele, Olga Maslovskaya, Cristian Domarchi, Peter Lynn, Tim Hanson, Ruxandra Comanaru (@rucsandra.bsky.social)

PDF: surveyfutures.net/wp-content/u...

Still the gold standard in survey research? Comparing face-to-face and self-completion data collection in a repeat cross-sectional general social survey in Great Britain

New Working Paper from Survey Futures:
surveyfutures.net/working-pape...

Professor Peter Lynn gives expert view to BBC Radio 4 on the issues at the Office for National Statistics with the Labour Force Survey

www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/new...

Professor @annettejackle.bsky.social debates survey methods on BBC Radio 4

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/news/2025/10...

The Radio 4 programme, More of Less, looked into the survey statistic by Resume Templates claiming 77 percent of young people brought a parent along to their job interviews.

PODCAST: Does pollution affect immigrant populations disproportionately?

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/podcasts/bre...

Chris Coates looks at air pollution and in particular how common is it for immigrant populations to live in more polluted areas. With @ruettenauer.bsky.social and L’myah Sherae

BLOG: Young people’s aspirations rise with parents’ income, by Alexander O’Donnell & Alexandra Wake

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/blog/2025/10...

What? Hang on... Only Connect is on tonight???

Field an experiment or suggest questionnaire content for the next wave of the @usociety.bsky.social Innovation Panel.

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/news/2025/10...

Two types of proposal can be submitted:

New survey content and Experiments and methodological tests.

What? Hang on... there's no Only Connect on tonight???

"Do you resist change?" @jdickerson.bsky.social on @slate.com Plus Political Gabfest

BLOG: How do you build a survey that works? by Peter Lynn

"In an article published today in the journal Nature: Human Behaviour, I attempt to tackle this question."

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Research has found that children who have been in childcare were more likely to come from higher-income households, and to have parents with higher education qualifications. It also showed differences in children’s emotional behaviour, depending on the type of childcare they’d received.

Childcare more common in higher income families.

Welsh Government uses @usociety.bsky.social to investigate childcare and effects on children

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/impact/welsh...

The data give researchers a view on the the entire family before and after childbirth. Parents answer questions on fertility, pregnancy and child development, and children complete their own survey from the age of 10.

Reposted by Mel Bartley

The latest Pregnancy and Early Childhood data from @usociety.bsky.social are now available from the UK Data Service.

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/news/2025/09...

Understanding Society collects information on social, economic and behavioural factors, and information on babies/children

This follows in the trail of great User Guides, such as:
BHPS – Harmonised User Guide
Calendar Year Datasets User Guides
Family Matrix User Guide
Marital and Cohabitation Histories User Guide
Ethnicity Research
Cognitive Ability Measure
National Pupil Database Wave 1 Linkage
DVLA User Guide

Reposted by Mel Bartley

New User Guide for @usociety.bsky.social with information on the geographical identifiers and geographical classifications datasets available in Understanding Society and provides information on how they can be used.

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentatio...

- Indoor environments and energy use
- Adaptation to eco-climate emergency
- Youth online survey

User Guide: www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentatio...

Data:
beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogu...

New data from @usociety.bsky.social Innovation Panel is now available.

www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/news/2025/09...

What new experiments are now available?
- Youth survey invite mailing
- Consent decision process
- Identification of informal caregiving
- Labour market expectations
...