Understanding Society User Support

Many thanks for your enquiry. The Understanding Society team is looking into it and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Best wishes,
Stephanie Auty - Understanding Society User Support Officer

Hello Felippe,

Thanks!

The ethnic group information is collected only once for each adult (16+), the first time that person is interviewed. So, while this information should be available for every adult who responded in Wave 1 (except for those who said refused/don't know), in Wave 2 this will only be available for those who were interviewed for the first time in that wave. And so on for every subsequent wave. We combine all this information collected from every wave and produce a variable RACEL_DV available in XWAVEDAT.
Have you used the XWAVEDAT file before? This file includes all time invariant information collected across all waves for every individual in the sample. For example, SEX_DV, BIRTHY, RACEL_DV, BORNUK_DV etc. This is an extremely useful file! You can merge the data from XWAVEDAT with W_INDRESP files using PIDP.

About Wave 6 & 7: In Wave 6 we added a new sample, the Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Boost sample. Could this be the reason? Try running your model without this sample which can be identified by W_HHORIG = 8. You can find out about the different samples in
the FAQ: https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/help/faqs Look for "What are the different sub-samples?"
the Get started page: https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/help/getting-started
the Main User Guide: https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/documentation/mainstage/user-guides/mainstage-waves-1-7-user-guide.pdf

Best wishes,
Alita