Understanding Society User Support

Dear Sir/Madam,

Sorry to trouble you again.

I wish to ask a question on parental education in the USoc. I understand that the BHPS data were 'rolled-in' at W2 of the USoc and parental education was asked at W13 of the BHPS. Information of parental education was also collected at w1 of the USoc. So, in the USoc, parental education was a combination of the BHPS W13 and USoc W1 data. Looking at the xwdat at Wave 12 of the Usoc, I could see that both paedqf and maedqf contain both BHPS and USoc sources information.

. ta xwdat_dv paedqf

Study enumerated in: |                           Father's educational qualifications
  UKHLS, BHPS or both |   missing  don't kno  he did no  he left s  he left s  he gained  he gained    other   |     Total
----------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------
in UKHLS xwavedat onl |    68,481          0      1,381     15,084      8,756      8,596      4,584        239 |   107,121
in BHPS xwavedat only |    21,326        664         44      2,496        804      1,202        332          2 |    26,870
              in both |     5,976        781         93      4,659      1,765      2,390        716         22 |    16,402
----------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------
                Total |    95,783      1,445      1,518     22,239     11,325     12,188      5,632        263 |   150,393

. ta xwdat_dv maedqf

Study enumerated in: |                           Mother's educational qualifications
  UKHLS, BHPS or both |   missing  don't kno  she did n  she left   she left   she gaine  she gaine    other   |     Total
----------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------
in UKHLS xwavedat onl |    66,753          0      2,323     17,359     11,305      6,151      3,075        155 |   107,121
in BHPS xwavedat only |    21,326        503         45      2,855      1,156        758        226          1 |    26,870
              in both |     5,917        529        108      5,179      2,554      1,563        536         16 |    16,402
----------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------
                Total |    93,996      1,032      2,476     25,393     15,015      8,472      3,837        172 |   150,393

My question is: why is there so much missing on parental education? 92902/150393 = 61.8%

. ta paedqf maedqf

Father's educational |                           Mother's educational qualifications
       qualifications | 9. missi  -1. don't  1. she di  2. she le  3. she le  4. she ga  5. she ga  97. other |     Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          9. missing |    92,902          0        148      1,275        819        481        147         11 |    95,783 
       -1. don't know |         0        711          5        384        194        134         17          0 |     1,445 
1. he did not go to s |        12          6      1,182        189         95         25          6          3 |     1,518 
2. he left school wit |       327        126        465     17,291      2,723      1,069        227         11 |    22,239 
3. he left school wit |       271         69        408      2,429      6,260      1,384        500          4 |    11,325 
4. he gained post sch |       387        112        150      3,271      3,656      3,879        702         31 |    12,188 
5. he gained a univer |        79          8        102        494      1,221      1,477      2,229         22 |     5,632 
          97. other   |        18          0         16         60         47         23          9         90 |       263 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Total |    93,996      1,032      2,476     25,393     15,015      8,472      3,837        172 |   150,393

I would be most grateful for your explanation and guidance.

Best wishes and many thanks in advance.

Yaojun