WERS98 Data Dissemination Service

THE 1990-98 PANEL SURVEY

The 1990-98 Panel Survey in WERS98 returned to a random selection of the 2,061 workplaces that participated in the 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (WIRS90) Cross-Section, with the express purpose of investigating the changes that had taken place in those workplaces over the preceding eight years.

Some 1,301 workplaces from the WIRS90 Cross-Section were selected to be traced for re-interview in 1998. The survey, with a response rate of 82 per cent, yielded an achieved sample of 846 continuing workplaces.

The 1990-98 Panel Survey was accompanied by a short telephone survey of all remaining workplaces from the WIRS90 Cross-Section not included within the initial 1998 selected sample of 1,301 workplaces. The purpose of this telephone survey was to establish whether the establishment had survived over the period and, if so, in what form. 

Survey scope:

The WIRS90 Cross-Section Survey, which formed the first wave of the 1990-98 Panel Survey, was representative of all workplaces with 25 or more employees in 1990, located in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and engaged in activities within Divisions 1 to 9 of the 1980 Standard Industrial Classification. The survey covered both public and private sectors. Workplaces falling within Division 0 (Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing) of the 1980 SIC were not included.

The same restrictions of scope were reapplied to workplaces from WIRS90 that were still in existence in 1998 and therefore eligible for re-interview in the second wave of the panel. Hence, for the purposes of the second wave interview, a continuing workplace was defined as one that was in-scope in both 1990 and 1998 and that had continued to operate throughout the intervening period.

Changes of activity, location or ownership were not considered to critically impair the concept of continuity, but extensive checks were made to ensure that the history of the 1998 unit could be clearly traced back to that surveyed in 1990. Some 1,026 of the 1,301 workplaces selected from WIRS90 were in-scope in 1998 and met the definition of a continuing workplace. As stated above, 846 of these 1,026 workplaces participated in the second wave of the panel.

Dates of fieldwork:

Fieldwork for the first wave of the 1990-98 Panel Survey took place between January and September of 1990. The median interview took place in March 1990.

Fieldwork for the second wave took place between November 1997 and July 1998. The median interview took place in January 1998.

The conduct of the 1990 and 1998 interviews:

1990: In the WIRS90 Cross-Section Survey, a self-completion Basic Workforce Data Sheet (BWDS) was sent to the workplace in advance of the interview, to be used for the recording of workforce data that may require the respondent to consult workplace records (e.g. the detailed occupational breakdown of the workforce). The Main Management Interview in the WIRS90 Cross-Section was then conducted on-site by a trained interviewer, using a structured pen and paper questionnaire. This face-to-face interview lasted an average of 99 minutes. (Interviews were also conducted with worker representatives, where present.)

1998: In the second wave of the panel, a self-completion Basic Workforce Data Sheet (BWDS) was again sent to the workplace in advance of the interview. The Main Management Interview (the sole interview in the second wave of the panel) was again conducted on-site by a trained interviewer, but this time using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) technology. This technology permitted data from 1990 to be 'fed forward' into the 1998 interview, thereby enabling changes that had occurred in employment relations at the workplace since 1990 to be readily identified and further investigated with the respondent. The average interview in 1998 lasted 66 minutes.

The 1998 BWDS and 1998 Panel Questionnaire are available from the table of documentation at the bottom of this page, along with documentation outlining the coding and editing of the resultant data.

Topics covered in the 1990 and 1998 questionnaires:

The 1998 questionnaire was both shorter and more focused than the questionnaire used in the WIRS90 Cross-Section Survey. However, both questionnaires covered the same broad topic areas:

-> Management of the personnel function
-> Trade union representation
-> Pay determination
-> Pay levels and payment systems
-> Consultation and communication
-> Dispute and grievance procedures
-> Industrial action
-> Economic and organizational context.

Further details:

The WERS98 User Guide contains a number of documents giving further information on the  conduct of WERS98. Those User Guide documents which relate specifically to the 1998 interview of the 1990-98 Panel Survey are listed in the table below. Follow this link to access more general documentation about WERS98.

Information on the 1990 interview of the 1990-98 Panel Survey (the WIRS90 Cross-Section Main Management Interview) can be found in the WIRS90 User Guide. An on-line version of the WIRS90 User Guide is currently available through the on-line BIRON catalogue of the Data Archive at the University of Essex (Search for Study Number 2858). We hope to make these 1990 documents available on this web-site in the near future.

Each file in the table below can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat® Reader. Users without this software can download it free of charge from the Adobe web-site by following the pictorial link below the table.

To view a document below, follow its hyperlink. To download the document, right-click on the hyperlink and this will give you the Save As option.

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WERS98 Data Dissemination Service
National Institute of Economic and Social Research, 2 Dean Trench St, London SW1P 3HE
URL: http://www.niesr.ac.uk/niesr/wers98     E-mail: wers98@niesr.ac.uk

This site is maintained by Simon Kirby
Page last updated: 16 November 2001