Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, United States, 2020 (ICPSR 38388)
Version Date: Oct 19, 2022 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Stephen Zuckerman, Urban Institute
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38388.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
In December 2017, the Urban Institute launched the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS), a nationally representative, internet-based survey of non-elderly adults designed to monitor changes in individual and family well-being during a time when policymakers are considering significant changes to federal safety net programs serving low-income families. The 2020 round of the survey collects information on a broad array of topics related to health, material hardship, and the safety net, including health insurance, housing, food security, employment, family income, program participation, family financial security, disability, school enrollment, child care, COVID-19 vaccine attitudes, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family employment, and immigration issues.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
Census region
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
ICPSR restricted certain variables from general dissemination for reasons of confidentiality. Users interested in obtaining the restricted data must complete a restricted data use agreement with ICPSR, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Apply for access to the restricted data via the ICPSR restricted data contract portal which can be accessed on the study home page.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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Users seeking the Noncitizen-Oversample (DS2) and Immigrant Module (DS3) datasets must enter a restricted data agreement with ICPSR to gain access to those datasets.
- This collection is related to the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, 2017 (ICPSR 37513), the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, 2018 (ICPSR 37653), and the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, 2019 (ICPSR 38044).
- Additional information about the survey is available at the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey website.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The Urban Institute launched the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) to monitor changes in individual and family health and well-being as policymakers make changes to federal safety net programs and the labor market continues to evolve.
Sample View help for Sample
For each round, a stratified random sample of approximately 7,500 adults ages 18 to 64 is drawn from the KnowledgePanel, a probability-based, nationally representative Internet panel maintained by Ipsos. The WBNS includes an oversample of adults with household incomes under 150 percent of the federal poverty level to improve the precision of estimates for this group. Current recruitment into the KnowledgePanel is based on an address-based sampling frame that covers nearly all residential addresses in the United States. In earlier periods, recruitment was carried out by telephone based on random-digit dialing sampling techniques. Approximately 55,000 U.S. households participate in the panel, including those with and without internet access. Web-enabled devices and internet access are provided to panel members if needed, and respondents can complete the online surveys in English or Spanish.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Household population aged 18-64
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
The WBNS response rate is roughly three to four percent each round.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2022-10-19
Version History View help for Version History
2022-10-19 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Created online analysis version with question text.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Weight View help for Weight
The WBNS weights reflect the probability of sample selection from the KnowledgePanel and post-stratification to the characteristics of nonelderly adults in the United States based on benchmarks from the Current Population Survey and American Community Survey for the following measures: age by gender; race and ethnicity; educational attainment; presence of children in the household; census region; residence in a metropolitan area; homeownership status; family income as a percentage of the federal poverty level; family composition (married or living with a partner by presence of children in the family); primary language; and internet access by age.
HideNotes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.

This study is maintained and distributed by the Health and Medical Care Archive (HMCA). HMCA is the official data archive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.