Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) has statutory responsibility in relation to regularly examining housing conditions and need and this provides the basis for the Housing Executive to undertake House Condition Surveys. The Northern Ireland House Condition Survey (NIHCS) provides a wealth of information, which is readily available to, and is regularly requested by government departments, government agencies, the voluntary sector, charities, universities and many private sector interests.The surveys have been carried out since 1974, but the UK Data Archive only holds data from the tenth survey (2009) onwards. All tenures and types of housing are included in the NIHCS, for example, owner occupied and rented housing, vacant dwellings, houses in multiple occupation, apartments, urban and rural properties. For further background information, see study documentation. Further information about the survey can be found on the NIHE House Condition Survey webpage.
The NIHCS 2009 was the first to use an electronic approach to data collection and validation. The main benefits of this included: saving time on paper forms and their administration; saving time on manual data punching (and double punching); allowing surveyors to complete more complex self-validation of their forms at the time of the survey; improving data quality by reducing punching errors, missing data and data inconsistencies and allowing a faster turn around of the survey results. The bespoke software used was developed by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) and permitted the recording of dwelling information through radio buttons, direct keying, selecting items from drop down menus and enabled surveyors to draw sketches. All these methods used a stylus pen on a touch screen. Validation and consistency checks were built into the programme and once a survey was completed it was uploaded to a database via a secure website. For further details, see the NIHCS 2009 report. Sampling frame: Proposed New Council Areas Users should note that the NIHCS 2009 sample was drawn using the proposed new Northern Ireland Council Areas structure as the base and findings are also reported on the new areas. Under the new proposed structure, the number of District Councils are reduced from the previous 26 areas to 11, among other changes. Therefore, the proposed areas used for sampling are described in the documentation and survey report as 'Proposed New Council Areas'.
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The E-Survey form used for NIHCS 2009 broadly remained the same as previous paper surveys and comprised five main sections of questions covering:physical attributes of each dwelling (internal and external); physical aspects of flats and common areas;demographic, social economic and attitudinal information on households;the front and back plot of the dwelling;the local neighbourhood and area; and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.The information gathered in the physical section allows measurement of repair costs, the Fitness Standard, The Decent Homes Standard, Fuel Poverty, SAP and the HHSRS. Information from the social survey is cross referenced with the physical survey data to provide an indication of the types of households living in dwellings which are in the poorest condition and most likely to fail the standards above.
Face-to-face interview
