Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, United States, 2021 (ICPSR 38759)

Version Date: Dec 12, 2023

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Principal Investigator(s):
Michael Karpman, Urban Institute

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38759.v1

Version V1

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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 2021 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, effects of COVID-19 on school attendance, experiences of discrimination, the child tax credit, and immigration issues.

Citation

Karpman, Michael. Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, United States, 2021. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-12-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38759.v1

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Funding

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

Census Region

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)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2021-01-01 -- 2021-12-29

Date of Collection

2021-01-01 -- 2021-12-29

Data Collection Notes

  1. 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.

  2. Additional information about the survey is available at the Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey website.
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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

For each round, a stratified random sample of approximately 7,500 adults ages 18 to 64 was drawn from the KnowledgePanel, a probability-based, nationally representative Internet panel maintained by Ipsos. The WBNS included an oversample of adults with household incomes under 150 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) to improve the precision of estimates for this group. The 2021 round includes additional oversamples of Black adults with household incomes between 150-250 percent of FPL and Asian adults. 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 participated in the panel, including those with and without internet access. Web-enabled devices and internet access were provided to panel members if needed, and respondents can complete the online surveys in English or Spanish.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Household population aged 18-64

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Response Rates

The WBNS response rate is roughly three to four percent each round.

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Original Release Date

2023-12-12

Version History

2023-12-12 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.

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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.

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Notes

  • 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.

HMCA logo

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.