Background Information / Details of the Survey
The Continuous Household Survey (CHS) has been running since 1983, with recent results covering housing characteristics, changing population, tourism, participation in sports, arts and culture and attitudes towards the environment. We are carrying-out this survey for a number of Government Departments and Agencies.
Received a letter?
The information leaflet explains all about the survey in detail. A letter is sent out to households who have been selected to take part in the survey to inform the residents that an interviewer will be calling at the address.
Our interviewers will present their official NISRA ID when they call.
The letter received by households is available in alternative languages.
Methodology
The sample for the survey consisted of a systematic random sample of addresses selected from the NISRA Address Register (NAR). The NAR is developed within NISRA and is primarily based on the Land and Property Services (LPS) Pointer database.
Data is collected by personal interview using CAPI, and the interviews are spread equally over the 12 months from April to March.
NISRA suspended all face-to-face household interviews in the middle of March 2020 due to the Coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic. The Continuous Household Survey returned to face-to-face household interviews in July 2022 but we continue to interview by telephone in some cases.
Information for users on changes to methodology is available on the CHS survey documents page.
If you have any questions please phone or email Maureen Stewart, 02890 255 112, Maureen.Stewart@nisra.gov.uk
Questionnaire
The current questionnaire and previous versions of the questionnaires are available to view on the CHS survey documents page.
Topics include:
| Accidents/Illness at Work | Artificial Intelligence (AI) |
| Car Access | Children's Travel to School |
| Cycle/Walk to Work | Domestic Tourism Same day and Overnight Trips |
| Education | Electric Vehicle Ownership |
| Employment | Environmental Issues and Actions Taken |
| General Health | Home Heating and Insulation |
| Household and Personal Internet Access | Household and Personal Water Use |
| Participation in Arts Activities and Arts Events | Personal Well Being |
| Play Facilities | Religion, Sexual Identity, National Identity |
| Road Safety | Sports Participation |
| Tenure | Use of Irish and Ulster-Scots languages |
| Use of PRONI | Use of Public Library Services/Museum Services |
| Volunteering |
Results
The technical report is available to view on the CHS survey documents page.
CHS Result tables are available for the following topics:
| Household Composition |
| Individual Demographics |
| Accommodation and Tenure |
| Families and Children |
| Internet Access |
| Access to Cars |
For Tourism Statistics or Sports, Arts and Leisure Statistics please go to the related website for each branch. Contact details are provided below.
Archived CHS results tables are available for the following topics, please click on the topic name to be re-directed to the results tables:
If you have any queries about archived data, please contact:
Maureen Stewart
02890 255 112
Maureen.Stewart@nisra.gov.uk
Publications
Results and publications from the survey are produced by the Departments who have commissioned the delivery of the Continuous Household Survey and can be viewed on the CHS publications page.
Microdata / Datasets
CHS Datasets can be found on the ESRC UK data service.
Contacts
For more information on the CHS please contact:
Maureen Stewart
02890 255 112
Maureen.Stewart@nisra.gov.uk
Gregory Mullen
02890 255 667
Gregory.Mullen@nisra.gov.uk
Niamh McShane
02890 255 365
Niamh.McShane@nisra.gov.uk
For Tourism Statistics please contact:
Sinead Toner
02890 255664
tourismstatistics@nisra.gov.uk
For Sports, Arts and Leisure Statistics please contact:
Clair Stewart
02890 823 572
Clair.Stewart@communities-ni.gov.uk