Understanding Society User Support

Good morning,

First of all, thanks for patiently discussing this issue with me yesterday. Your advice was indeed very helpful and now know much more about the USoc data set up than I did one day ago.

This is what I understood from our discussion (I'm mainly using info from INDESP files), I would be really grateful if you could confirm the following statements are correct:

1. USoc data need to be analysed under a complex survey design so svyset the data in Stata specifying cluster var (psu), stratum var (strata) and weight var (weight)
2. psu and strata (but not weight) vars are all included in the data file xwavedat.dta, which can be merged to INDRESP files using the var pidp (individual ID)

3. The psu var is called a_psu for Wave 1, b_psu for Wave 2, etc.

4. The strata var is called a_strata for Wave 1, b_strata for Wave 2, etc.

5. Identifying the weight var requires a bit more thought (it depends o the sample one is focusing on - this is explained below)

6. As a general rule, if the figures to be estimated involve using data on people from any three waves a, b and c, then one should use longitudinal weights for the last wave (c)

7. I'm not sure why, at some point during our conversation yesterday, the var a_indinuf_lw was mentioned?

8. To identify the correct weight, one should refer to Table 37 at page 68 of the mainstage-user-guide (https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/documentation/mainstage/user-guides/mainstage-user-guide.pdf)

9. This is my understanding of which weights should be used:

Individual observed in waves; Weight variable to use

1 and 2; b_indinus_lw
2 and 3; c_indinub_lw
3 and 4; d_indinub_lw
4 and 5; e_indinub_lw
5 and 6; f_indinub_lw
6 and 7; g_indinui_lw
7 and 8; h_indinui_lw

1, 2 and 3; c_indinus_lw
2, 3 and 4; d_indinub_lw
3, 4 and 5; e_indinub_lw
4, 5 and 6; f_indinub_lw
5, 6 and 7; g_indinub_lw
6, 7 and 8; h_indinui_lw

1, 2 and 4; d_indinus_lw
2, 3 and 5; e_indinub_lw
3, 4 and 6; f_indinub_lw
4, 5 and 7; g_indinub_lw
5, 6 and 8; h_indinub_lw

1, 2 and 5; e_indinus_lw
2, 3 and 6; f_indinub_lw
3, 4 and 7; g_indinub_lw
4, 5 and 8; h_indinub_lw

1, 2 and 6; f_indinus_lw
2, 3 and 7; g_indinub_lw
3, 4 and 8; h_indinub_lw

Many thanks for your help