ABSTRACT
The Health and Lifestyle Survey Survey design The Health and Lifestyle Survey (HALS) was designed as a representative survey of adults in Great Britain (see Cox et al. 1987, 1993). The population surveyed was individuals aged 18 and over living in private households. In principle, each individual should have an equal probability of being selected for the survey. This allows the data to be used to make inferences about the underlying population. HALS was designed originally as a cross-section survey with one measurement for each observation, or individual. It was carried out between the autumn of 1984 and the summer of 1985. Information was collected in three stages:
• a one-hour face-to-face interview, which collected information on experience and attitudes towards to health and lifestyle along with general socioeconomic information
• a nurse visit to collect physiological measures and indicators of cognitive function, such as memory and reasoning
• a self-completion postal questionnaire to measure psychiatric health and personality.
