Northern Ireland House Condition Surveys, 2009-

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 <i>Northern Ireland House Condition Survey</i> (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. Eleven such surveys have been carried out since 1974, but the UK Data Archive only holds data from the tenth survey onwards, conducted in 2009. 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 documentation.<br> <br> Further information about the survey can be found on the NIHE <a href="http://www.nihe.gov.uk/index/corporate/housing_research/house_condition_survey.htm" title="House Condition Survey">House Condition Survey</a> webpage.<br> <br> The NIHCS 2011 used mobile field computers (Motion 5 Field Tools) to collect the data. This approach was first used in 2009 and was reviewed and enhanced for the 2011 Survey. The main benefits of this electronic approach included: enabling 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.<br> <br> 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. The hardware (a Motion 5 Field Tool) was both a semi-rugged field tool and a standard Windows computer. It was designed for external use and had to be able to withstand a fall, have a battery life long enough to reduce the need for a docking station and have a ‘View Anywhere’ display. In addition the digital ink capability made it easy to annotate, draw, scribble or use handwriting and it also had a built in camera. The hardware also provided secure user identification and device level security. The new electronic approach, the project management, design, administration, quality assurance analysis and report writing were the responsibility of the Housing Executive’s Research Unit. <br> <br> Eighteen fully qualified surveyors undertook the fieldwork and were either Environmental Health Officers or Chartered Surveyors. All of the surveyors had worked on the 2006 and 2009 NIHCS (the 2006 NIHCS is not currently held at the Archive). Four experienced supervisors were responsible for quality assuring the work of the surveyors.<br> <br> For the second edition (December 2015) additional variables covering heating systems, heating controls, property dimensions, roof structure and windows were added to the dataset.The additional variables have been supplied to provide further Northern Ireland data in relation to Fuel Poverty.<br> <br>

北爱尔兰房屋执行局（Northern Ireland Housing Executive, NIHE）承担法定职责，定期核查住房状况与住房需求，这为该局开展房屋状况调查提供了法定依据。<i>北爱尔兰房屋状况调查（Northern Ireland House Condition Survey, NIHCS）</i> 蕴藏海量信息资源，不仅可被政府部门、政府机构、志愿部门、慈善机构、高等院校及众多私营领域主体便捷获取，同时也常被上述各类主体主动征询使用。自1974年以来，该局累计开展11次此类调查，但英国数据档案馆仅收藏了2009年第十次调查及后续历次调查的相关数据。该调查覆盖所有住房保有类型与各类住房业态，例如自有住房、租赁住房、空置住宅、多户合租住宅、公寓及城乡房产。如需获取更多背景资料，请参阅配套文档。<br><br>如需了解本次调查的更多详情，可访问北爱尔兰房屋执行局官方网站的<a href="http://www.nihe.gov.uk/index/corporate/housing_research/house_condition_survey.htm" title="House Condition Survey">房屋状况调查</a>页面。<br><br>2011年版NIHCS采用移动现场计算机（Motion 5 Field Tools）开展数据采集。该采集方式于2009年首次应用，并在2011年调查中完成优化与升级。此种电子化采集方式的核心优势包括：允许调查人员在现场完成更为复杂的表单自我校验，通过减少录入误差、缺失数据与数据不一致问题提升数据质量，同时可加快调查结果的产出周期。<br><br>本次调查使用的定制化软件开发自建筑研究院（Building Research Establishment, BRE），支持调查人员通过单选按钮、直接键入、下拉菜单选择等方式录入住宅信息，同时支持绘制草图。所有操作均通过触摸屏配合触控笔完成。程序内置校验与一致性检查机制，调查完成后可通过安全网站直接上传至数据库。本次采用的硬件（Motion 5 Field Tool）兼具半坚固型户外设备与标准Windows电脑的特性，专为野外使用设计，需具备抗跌落性能、足够长的续航以减少对接站依赖，并配备"View Anywhere"全视角可视显示屏。此外，该设备支持数字墨水功能，便于批注、绘图、随手记录或手写输入，还内置了摄像头。硬件层面同时提供了安全的用户身份验证与设备级安全防护。全新的电子化采集方案、项目管理、方案设计、流程统筹、质量保证分析以及报告撰写工作，均由北爱尔兰房屋执行局研究部门负责实施。<br><br>本次调研共有18名具备执业资质的调查人员参与现场工作，他们均为环境卫生官员或特许测量师。所有调查人员均参与过2006年与2009年版NIHCS的调研工作（目前档案馆未收藏2006年版NIHCS数据）。另有4名资深督导负责对调查人员的工作开展质量管控。<br><br>2015年12月发布的第二版数据集新增了涵盖供暖系统、供暖控制装置、房产尺寸、屋顶结构与窗户类型在内的多项变量。新增变量旨在补充北爱尔兰地区与燃料贫困相关的住房数据。<br><br>