Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The Annual Respondents Database X (ARDx) has been created by researchers at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Virtual Microdata Laboratory (VML) and the University of the West of England to allow users of Annual Respondents Database (ARD) (held at the UK Data Archive under SN 6644) to continue analysis even though the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) which was used to create ARD ceased in 2008. ARDx contains harmonised variables from 1998 to 2014. The basic unit of production of any business is the local unit (LU), or establishment. However, the data for ARDx are collected and organised at the reporting unit (RU) level; this reflects the smallest collection of local units able to provide the financial information required. In most cases, these will be LUs carrying out the same activity. Around 95 per cent of the RUs in the ONS data have only one LU i.e. they are single-site businesses. ARDx is created from two ONS surveys, the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI; 1998-2008, held at the UK Data Archive under SN 6644) and the Annual Business Survey (ABS; 2009 onwards, held at the UK Data Archive under SN 7451). The ABI has an employment survey (ABI1) and a second survey for financial information (ABI2). ABS only collects financial data, and so is supplemented with employment data from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES; 2009 onwards, held at the UK Data Archive under SN 7463). ARDx consists of two types of files: 'respondent files' which have reported and derived information from survey questionnaire responses; and 'universe files' which contain limited information on all business that are within scope of the ABI/ABS. There is also a 'register panel' containing all RUs observed over the period in one file. Users are advised to consult the documentation for further information. Linking to other business studies These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research. For the fourth edition (April 2017), ARD X Version 3.3 data for 1998-2015 have been added. This replaces the Version 3.2 data however the code from the previous version remains and should be used with caution. Version 3.3 has been withdrawn in January 2018 due to data issues. Therefore, only version 3.2 (including the years 1998-2014) is available to users. Note to users Due to the limited nature of the documentation available for ARDx, users are advised to consult the documentation for the Annual Business Survey (UK Data Archive SN 7451) for detailed information about the data. For Secure Lab projects applying for access to this study as well as to SN 6697 Business Structure Database and/or SN 7683 Business Structure Database Longitudinal, only postcode-free versions of the data will be made available.
Main Topics:
The variables included in ARDx are of three different types:IDBR-based information about the reporting unit, such as ownership, type of business, employment or turnover from tax records, and weightsrespondent data, indicated by 'wq' followed by a question number e.g. wq100employment data, beginning 'empt' or 'empe_' depending on whether employment or employee data
One-stage stratified or systematic random sample
Compilation or synthesis of existing material
