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Title:
National Sample from the 1851 Census of Great Britain

Subject Categories:
Population history - History
Population censuses - Population, vital statistics and censuses

Depositor(s):
Anderson, M., University of Edinburgh. Department of Economic and Social History

Principal Investigator(s):
Anderson, M., University of Edinburgh. Department of Sociology
Collins, B., University of Edinburgh. Department of Sociology
Stott, C., University of Edinburgh. Department of Sociology

Sponsor(s):
Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract:
The objects of the project were,
1. To draw a two per cent systematic stratified cluster sample from the enumerators' books; the cluster unit is the settlement for settlements of less than 2,000 population (England and Wales only), twenty successive individuals in every 1,000 (adjusted so that families are not broken up) for institutions, and one enumerators book in fifty for the rest of the country.
2. To prepare a complete machine-readable transcript of the roughly 400,000 individual entries resulting from the sample.
3. To code the data by computer into standardised numerical form using specially developed coding directories and appropriate coding software.
4. To prepare a number of data sets in appropriate formats for use with standard data analysis packages.
5. To employ the data set via package or other software to explore various salient aspects of the nineteenth century social and economic structure at national, regional, occupational and other levels of analysis and to write up the results for publication.
6. To make available to interested parties data sets of a kind suitable for their purposes whether in the form of transcripts, coded data sets in various formats, photocopies of partially processed data and so on.
7. To produce special tabulations for interested scholars (subject to constraints of time and computing resources) and to assist others in doing tabulation or preparing their own software to access the data.
8. To make available ancillary products of the data set such as coding directories, code books etc.
9. To act as a centre of expertise in problems of census analysis and of the National Sample data sets.
Main Topics:
Variables
Name, address, relationship to head of family, marital status, age, sex, occupation, place of birth, whether blind or deaf and dumb.

Coverage:
Time Period Covered: 1851
Dates of Fieldwork: 1 October 1972-December 1977
Country: Great Britain
Spatial Units: Enumeration Districts
Observation Units: Individuals; Families/households

Universe Sampled:
Location of Units of Observation:National
Population:Enumeration returns of the 1851 Census of Great Britain

Methodology:
Time Dimensions: Cross-sectional (one-time) study
Sampling Procedures: One-stage cluster sample
stratified two percent systematic cluster sample from the enumerators' books. Institutions (defined as all institutions recorded in the footnotes to the published census) are sampled on the basis of twenty successive individuals in every 1,000; where family groups overrun the end of the twenty individual block, the block is extended to the end of the family group; where the block would otherwise begin in the middle of a family group the block begins with the first individual after the end of the family group. For Scotland, the enumerator's book is the sample unit, every fiftieth successive book being selected. For England and Wales, settlements of less than 2,000 population are sampled in their entirety, on a one in fifty basis, a settlement being defined as any place named in the main tabulations of the first part of the published census. For the rest of these countries the unit, as in Scotland, is the enumeration district. The sample consists of 945 clusters; the total sample is around 400,000 individuals
Number of Units: 400000 (target) 415000 (obtained)
Method of Data Collection: Compilation or synthesis of existing material
Data Sources: Census Enumerators Books, 1851

Language(s) of Written Materials:
Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:
Access Conditions: The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions for further information.
Availability: History Data Service, UK Data Archive
Contact: Help desk: hds@essex.ac.uk

Date of Release:
First Edition: 1979

Copyright:
Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland

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