The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for the average adult. The cost of housing, such as the rent for an apartment, usually makes up the largest proportion of this estimate, so economists track the real estate market and other housing cost indicators as a major influence on the poverty line. Individual factors are often used to account for various circumstances, such as whether one is a parent, elderly, a child, married, etc. The poverty threshold may be adjusted annually. In practice, like the definition of poverty, the official or common understanding of the poverty line is significantly higher in developed countries than in developing countries.
Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society. This movement occurs between layers or tiers in an open system of social stratification. Open stratification systems are those in which at least some value is given to achieved status characteristics in a society. The movement can be in a downward or upward direction. Markers for social mobility such as education and class, are used to predict, discuss and learn more about an individual or a group's mobility in society.
The British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), carried out at the Institute for Social and Economic Research of the University of Essex, is a survey for social and economic research. A sample of British households was drawn and first interviewed in 1991. The members of these original households have since been followed and annually interviewed. The resulting data base is very popular among social scientists for quantitative analyses of social and economic change. One of the most important precursors of the BHPS is the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), established in the 1960s at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (US). The initial BHPS sample consisted of 10,300 individuals across Great Britain. Additional samples were recruited in Scotland and Wales in 1999 and the study was extended to Northern Ireland in 2001.
A longitudinal study is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables over short or long periods of time. It is often a type of observational study, although it can also be structured as longitudinal randomized experiment.
In statistics and econometrics, panel data and longitudinal data are both multi-dimensional data involving measurements over time. Panel data is a subset of longitudinal data where observations are for the same subjects each time.
NORC at the University of Chicago is one of the largest independent social research organizations in the United States. Established in 1941 as the National Opinion Research Center, its corporate headquarters is located in downtown Chicago, with offices in several other locations throughout the United States. Organized as an independent corporation, more than half its board comes from faculty and administration of the University of Chicago. It also jointly staffs some university academic research centers.
The GermanSocio-Economic Panel is a longitudinal panel dataset of the population in Germany. It is a household based study which started in 1984 and which reinterviews adult household members annually. Additional samples have been taken from time to time. In 2015, there will be about 14,000 households, and more than 30,000 adult persons sampled. Some of the many topics surveyed include household composition, occupation, employment, earnings, health and life satisfaction. The annual surveys are conducted by the German Institute for Economic Research and the Kantar Group. The survey is funded by the German Federal Government and the State of Berlin via the «Bund-Länder-Kommission» for Educational Planning and Research Promotion.
The Cross-National Equivalent File(CNEF) contains data from general population household-based panel surveys fielded in Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Korea, Russia, Switzerland and the United States. Each of these countries fields a longitudinal survey of households and their inhabitants. All of the surveys follow the set of people living in the set of households surveyed initially. With the exception of the Japan Household Panel Study, all of the surveys also follow the members of the original households, labeled as "original sample members" when they move away and form new households. Almost all of the surveys also follow people who joined a household of an "original sample member". Researchers at institutions in each country collaborate with CNEF to harmonize a subset of the data from each survey. The harmonized data get used, individually or as a set, by researchers who compare social and economic outcomes over time and across countries. Researchers exploit a cross-national design to understand whether differences in observed outcomes can be explained by differences in policies, social, and economic situations one observes across countries. The CNEF is managed by Dean Lillard and Temur Akhmedov at the Department of Human Sciences at The Ohio State University (US).
Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), is one of the largest panel survey in the world, supporting social and economic research. Its sample size is 40,000 households from the United Kingdom or approximately 100,000 individuals.
China Family Panel Studies is a nationally representative, biennial longitudinal general social survey project designed to document changes in Chinese society, economy, population, education, and health. The CFPS was launched in 2010 by the Institute of Social Science Survey (ISSS) of Peking University, China. The data were collected at the individual, family, and community levels and are targeted for use in academic research and public policy analysis. CFPS focuses on the economic and non-economic well-being of the Chinese people, and covers topics such as economic activities, educational attainment, family relationships and dynamics, migration, and physical and mental health. The themes cover social, economic, education, health and so forth.
The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is a longitudinal panel survey of American families, conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan.
The LISS panel is an online household panel. The panel consists of some 5000 households in the Netherlands, comprising approximately 7500 individuals over the age of 16. The panel is based on a true probability sample of households drawn from the population register by Statistics Netherlands. Households without prior Internet access are equipped with a computer and broadband Internet.
The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) is a longitudinal birth cohort study of American families. Core aims of the study are to learn about the capabilities and relationships of unmarried parents and how the families and children fare on various health and social measures over time. The FFCWS uses a stratified random sampling technique and an oversample of non-marital births. Baseline data collection ran from 1998 to 2000, featuring interviews with both biological parents shortly after children's births as well as the collection of medical records. Follow-up interviews were conducted when the children were 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, and 22 years old. In addition to parent interviews, the follow-up waves included in-home assessments, child care or teacher questionnaires, and interviews with the child.
Linda M. Burton is a sociologist who is the dean of Berkeley’s social welfare school. She previously held the title of James B. Duke Professor of Sociology and Director of the Sociology Department’s Undergraduate Honors Program at Duke University. She specializes in family structure, poverty and inequality, and child development.
The Polish Panel Survey is a program of panel surveys of the population of Poland carried out by the Research Team on Comparative Social Inequality at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The study started in 1988 and is repeated in five-year intervals. The focus of the Polish Panel Survey is to describe Poland's social structure and its change.
Sandra L. Hofferth is a Professor, the Department of Family Science, University of Maryland School of Public Health in the United States, and Director, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. She is the former co-director of the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics and founding Director of its Child Development Supplement. Her research focuses on American children's use of time; poverty, food insecurity, public assistance, and child health and development; and fathers and fathering. Hofferth is the author of more than 100 articles and five books. Dr. Hofferth studies employment and parenting among women and most recently has extended this interest to men. Her current research focuses on the transition of young men to adulthood, particularly disadvantaged young men. Her papers have examined the link between the timing of childbirth and relationship outcomes for young men, factors influencing the transition of young men into residential and nonresidential fatherhood, the consequences of children for young men's relationships, and how young men's and their partners' employment experiences affect their relationships with children.
Greg J. Duncan is an American economist who is a Distinguished Professor of Education at University of California, Irvine and an Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He was the 2013 winner of the Jacobs Research Prize for his research on the long-term effects of childhood poverty, primarily through his 23 years with the Panel Study of Income Dynamics as researcher and director.
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey is an Australian household-based panel study which began in 2001. It has been used for examining issues such as the incidence of persistent poverty; assets and income in the transition to retirement; the correlates and impact of changes in physical and mental health; and an international comparison of wealth and happiness. The survey is widely used by Australian and international researchers in the fields of economics, social science and social policy and by the Australian Government. The HILDA survey is managed by a small team from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne and the national fieldwork is carried out by ACNielsen and Roy Morgan Research. The survey is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Social Services.
Deborah M. Capaldi is a developmental psychologist known for her research on at-risk male youth and the intergenerational transmission of substance use, antisocial behavior, intimate partner violence, and child abuse. She is a senior scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center. Her current projects focus on child exposure to family violence and parenting practices of at-risk parents.
