Linking data allows researchers to analyse information collected by other organisations together with Understanding Society information. These organisations include government departments and agencies, such as the NHS and the Department for Education, regulatory bodies, such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and other data holders, for example social networking sites. Data will only be linked if Understanding Society participants give their informed consent.

Flowchart showing data linkage process: Different organisations collect data as a matter of course. This could be from the NHS, DVLA, HMRC, FCA or other data holders. You complete your interview with Understanding Society. We create a dataset with your anonymous answers and a dataset with a temporary ID, your name, address, sex and date of birth. We send this file to the data holder. They find your record, remove the personal information from it and send your data to us. We match your survey answers and the data held by the organisation and create a new anonymous dataset which combines the survey answers and other data held by the organisation, but no personal identifying information. The anonymous data are available to researchers.

The information from the different organisations which can be linked to Understanding Society includes information about education, health, transport and economic circumstances. While the research potential is exciting, the processes and procedures for making linkage possible are detailed and complex, requiring carefully sought permissions from participants and the co-operation of external organisations who own the administrative datasets.