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Exploring and Validating a Commercial Lifestyle Survey for its use in the Analysis of Population Migration

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Abstract

At a time when the future of the traditional population census in the United Kingdom is uncertain, increasing attention is being paid to the availability of data on geo-social processes, such as population migration, from alternative and less familiar administrative and survey sources. In this paper, we report on research using data which provides some valuable information about migration behaviour in connection with other demographic and lifestyle characteristics obtained from several large geo-referenced cross-sectional annual sample surveys of the British population originating from the commercial sector. In particular, the paper uses a method of sample weighting to compensate for potential biases related to unequal probabilities of selection. The findings suggest, however, that the unweighted commercial microdata can be used in migration modelling to give reassuringly reliable estimates of associational patterns of key demographic, socio-economic and behavioural/lifestyle characteristics.

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Notes

  1. Internal Migration Around the GlobE (http://www.gpem.uq.edu.au/image)

  2. The results of this comparison can be provided by the first author on request.

  3. Modelled results where the mover is defined as someone who has moved to the address in the prior 12 months, but regardless of whether they provided a previous address, suggest almost identical results to those shown in this paper. The results of these comparisons can be provided by the first author on request.

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Acknowledgments

The research in this paper was undertaken under the TALISMAN programme funded by the ESRC. The authors are grateful to Acxiom Ltd., and to Clare Woodvine in particular, for providing the data sets upon which the research is based as well as Alison Manson for re-drawing the figure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Michael Thomas, John Stillwell & Myles Gould

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  1. Michael Thomas
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Correspondence to Michael Thomas.

Appendix: Marginal Population Totalsr

Appendix: Marginal Population Totalsr

N.B. All subtotals are later adjusted to meet the 18+ Mid-2005 Population Estimates for Great Britain (N = 45,775,200) which themselves reflect ONS revisions due to improved migration measures.

Government Office Region (GOR) totals

GOR

Population

North East A

2,074,000

North West B

5,503,900

Yorkshire D

4,124,800

East Midlands E

3,503,600

West Midlands F

4,282,800

East of England G

4,472,800

London H

6,046,000

South East J

6,591,200

South West K

4,158,400

Wales W

2,384,500

Scotland X

4,165,800

GB total (16+)

47,307,800

Source: Table 8 Mid-2005 Population Estimates: Selected age groups for local authorities in the United Kingdom; estimated resident population. Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for Scotland.

Age Group Totals

Age group

Population

18–24

5,345,300

25–29

3,651,700

30–34

4,051,100

35–39

4,511,800

40–44

4,475,300

45–49

3,926,300

50–54

3,566,800

55–59

3,812,400

60–64

3,030,100

65–69

2,641,800

70+

6,762,600

GB total (18+)

45,775,200

Source: Table 2 Mid-2005 Population Estimates: Great Britain; estimated resident population by single year of age and sex; reflecting revisions due to improved migration. Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for Scotland.

Sex Group Totals

Sex

Population

Male

22,118,300

Female

23,656,600

GB total (18+)

45,774,900

Source: Table 2 Mid-2005 Population Estimates: Great Britain; estimated resident population by single year of age and sex; reflecting revisions due to improved migration. Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for Scotland.

Mover Status Group Totals

Length of residence

Population

Less than 12 months

4,032,346

More than 12 months

39,344,060

GB total (18+)

43,376,406

Source: Quarterly Labour Force Survey Household Dataset, April—June, 2005. Weight: Person household weight. Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

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Thomas, M., Stillwell, J. & Gould, M. Exploring and Validating a Commercial Lifestyle Survey for its use in the Analysis of Population Migration. Appl. Spatial Analysis 7, 71–95 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-013-9096-5

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