Does analysis of the HSE require the use of weights?
The use of weighting variables depends on the year. Where a population has been oversampled (e.g. the population in care homes in 2000) weights are required to compensate for this. Weights are also required for analysis of children in the HSE. However, more generally, the HSE gives a good match to the total population and so weights are often not required. For example, in 2002 no weights need to be applied if using the adult sample only. Since 2003 non-response weights have been introduced to keep up with changes on many large-scale surveys with the aim of reducing possible biases. More information on the use of weights for analysis of social surveys is available in the ESDS analysis guide Weighting the Social Surveys.
