Understanding Society User Support: Issueshttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/https://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/support/favicon.ico?15995719382024-02-20T14:23:07ZUnderstanding Society User Support
Redmine Support #2056 (Feedback): Which weights to use when combining the mainstage and Covid-19 waves of...https://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20562024-02-20T14:23:07ZJames Laurence
<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I have been reading through the forum support on weighting when using the Covid-19 data and Mainstage data combined, but I was hoping to just get some clarification on a couple of points.</p>
<p>I am conducting a study which looks at trends over time in adult mental health across UKHLS Mainstage surveys 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and the Covid-19 survey 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (only the web survey). I end at Mainstage survey wave 9 (survey period Jan 2017-May 2019) as that appears to be the last Mainstage wave that doesn’t cover the pandemic period. My data is in long format and I’m using Stata.</p>
<p>However, I am unsure of which weights to use precisely for my aims.</p>
<p>The first thing I would like to do is to treat the data as pooled cross-sectional data to look at how mental health changes over time (between wave 2 of the mainstage and wave 8 of the Covid survey). So, I’d like to see the level of mental health in the UK at each wave of the UKHLS. Ideally, I would like to model all the waves together. Am I right in thinking that to do so I would need to create a new ‘weight’ variable, which is the self-completion cross-sectional weight for each wave? I’ll explain below…</p>
<p>So, for wave 2 of the Mainstage survey, the new ‘weight’ variable would have the value of b_indscub_xw<br />For wave 3 it would have the value of: c_indscub_xw<br />For wave 4 it would have the value of: d_indscub_xw<br />For wave 5 it would have the value of: e_indscub_xw<br />For wave 6, it seems there are two self-completion, cross-sectional weights (_ub and _ui): would it be <br />f_indscub_xw or f_indscui_xw?<br />For wave 7 it would have the value of: g_indscui_xw (as there is no _ub version)<br />For wave 8 it would have the value of: h_indscui_xw (again, as there is no _ub version)<br />For wave 9 it would have the value of: i_indscui_xw (again, as there is no _ub version)</p>
<p>Then, turning to filling in the COVID-19 survey values of the new ‘weight’ variable it would be:<br />For wave 1 of the COVID-19 survey it would have the value of: ca_betaindin_xw <br />For wave 2 of the COVID-19 survey it would have the value of: cb_betaindin_xw <br />…<br />For wave 8 of the COVID-19 survey it would have the value of: ch_betaindin_xw<br />For wave 9 of the COVID-19 survey it would have the value of: ci_betaindin_xw</p>
<p>So, the Stata code would look something like this to give you an idea of what I mean:</p>
<p>gen weight = b_indscub_xw if mainstage_wave==2<br />replace weight = c_indscub_xw if mainstage_wave==3<br />replace weight = d_indscub_xw if mainstage_wave==4<br />…<br />replace weight = i_indscui_xw if mainstage_wave==9<br />replace weight = ca_betaindin_xw fi cv19survey_wave==1<br />…<br />replace weight = ch_betaindin_xw fi cv19survey_wave==8<br />replace weight = ci_betaindin_xw fi cv19survey_wave==9</p>
<p>So, it would be one new ‘weight’ variable, where each wave within each pidp had a weight value which corresponds to the cross-sectional weight for that wave.</p>
<p>- Is that the correct approach to take in to treat the data as repeated cross-section data and look at levels of mental health in each wave? <br />- Am I handling the COVID-19 weights correctly, and can I combine the Mainstage (waves 1-9) and Covid-19 surveys (waves 1-9) in this way?<br />- I’m not sure I fully understand the switch between _ub (waves 1-6 mainstage) and _ui (waves 7-9 mainstage). I can only use _ub up to wave 5 and only _ui from waves 7 to 9. Is it correct to take the approach I’ve outlined above, looking at _ui in some waves and _wub in others? <br />- Also, for wave 6, which self-completion cross-sectional weights should I use? The _ui or _ub?</p>
<p>I hope this makes sense and please do let me know if you require any further clarifications.</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>James</p> Support #2038 (Resolved): Merging family level and individual level data https://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20382024-01-24T09:58:54ZTed Porter
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am looking to create a panel data set using the main survey from Understanding society. Most variables I need are contained within the indresp file, however a couple I want are in the hhresp file. Is there a way to create a panel data set, i.e using multiple years of data, with a data set combining both hhresp and indresp variables.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p> Support #2035 (Resolved): Inquiry on the Travel to work area special license datahttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20352024-01-20T09:22:28ZXinyu Tao
<p>Dear officer,</p>
<p>We wonder if data on postcodes of the travel to the work area are available.</p>
<p>Many thanks for your time and help.</p>
<p>Best regards,<br />Karen</p> Support #2033 (Resolved): Derived variable on income / earnings of each benefit unithttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20332024-01-18T20:03:04ZThomas Stephenst.c.stephens@lse.ac.uk
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I notice that Understanding Society has a useful derived variable which splits households by their benefit unit (buno_dv); <a class="external" href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/mainstage/variables/buno_dv/">https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/mainstage/variables/buno_dv/</a>. This appears to be aligned to how the DWP and Family Resources Survey define a benefit unit.</p>
<p>Is there a derived variable on income strictly for those in each benefit unit? This would ideally include several additional variables, distinguishing between income from all sources, earnings, investments, benefit income, pension, e.t.c. I am aware of household income derived variables and individual income derived variables, and have used them in my other analysis,, but I can't seem to see a set of the same derived variables for the benefit unit. Perhaps this exists and I have missed it.</p>
<p>If it hasn't been created, any advice / code on how it has been constructed in other cases would be very welcome of course.</p>
<p>Thanks in anticipation and let me know if any questions or ambiguities.</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>Tom</p> Support #2032 (Resolved): hidp missing from hhresp but present in income, egoalt, indresp fileshttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20322024-01-18T13:10:31ZChris Grollman
<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I am taking values of <em>ficode</em> from the <strong>income</strong> file, and want to attach them to the associated household file <strong>hhresp</strong> using a join by <em>hidp</em>.</p>
<p>Across waves f to l I have 4111 unique values of <em>hidp</em> from the <strong>income</strong> file. When I link to <strong>hhresp</strong> using <em>hidp</em> I find that 119/4111 (2.9%) do not link: that is, the <em>hidp</em> in <strong>income</strong> doesn't occur in the <strong>hhresp</strong> file. The proportion where the <em>hidp</em> is not present in <strong>hhresp</strong> varies across the seven waves I am looking at.</p>
<p>I have looked in detail for one <em>hidp</em> in wave j. That <em>hidp</em> occurs in the <strong>income</strong>, <strong>egoalt</strong> and <strong>indresp</strong> files, with a total of four <em>pidps</em> living at that household. But the <em>hidp</em> doesn't appear in <strong>hhresp</strong>.</p>
<p>What is going on?!</p>
<p>Thank you!<br />Chris</p> Support #2027 (Resolved): jbft_dv variablehttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20272024-01-08T18:37:58ZYuliya Tavaresy.vanzhulovatavares@qmul.ac.uk
<p>Dear Team Member,</p>
<p>There is a derived variable 'jbft_dv' to identify full or part-time employment. In the last 13th wave there are no observations under this variable. Could you please guide me on which variable identifies full- or part-time employment in the recent wave? My search in the dataset and relevant questionnaire has not been successful.</p>
<p>Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Kind regards,<br />Yuliya Tavares</p> Support #2025 (Resolved): expenditure in UKHLShttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20252024-01-08T13:58:15ZJane Fry
<p>Hi,<br />I am new to Understanding Society/UKHLS but have used the Australian HILDA dataset, which is very similar. I gather there is expenditure data collected in UKHLS but have only managed to find food, alcohol and energy variables. Are there any other types of expenditure included in the survey? If so, where can I find them?<br />Thanks.</p> Support #2024 (Resolved): Death/dead in waves: dcsedfl_dv (Respondent reported as deceased) + dcs...https://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20242024-01-04T18:44:34ZAlexander Labeit
<p>Dear Understanding Society Team,</p>
<p>I want to use the information if a respondent has died in one of the waves. There is no linked death registry data available but at least dcsedfl_dv (Respondent reported as deceased?) + dcsedw_dv (Wave respondent deceased) is available. <br />If I tabulate the frequencies for dcsedw_dv I get:<br />UKHLS Wave 20, UKHLS Wave 21, etc.</p>
<p>The timeline and naming of BHPS and UKHLS waves:<br /><a class="external" href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/mainstage/survey-timeline/">https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/mainstage/survey-timeline/</a><br />dcsedfl_dv starts with value labels from UKHLS Wave 1.</p>
<p>There are no UKHLS Wave 20, UKHLS Wave 21 existing and the correct value labels for the variabledcsedw_dv (Wave respondent deceased) would be UKHLS Wave 1, UKHLS Wave 2, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks,<br />Alexander</p> Support #2021 (Resolved): Question about gor_dv variablehttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/20212023-12-28T16:57:22ZKamil Kadziolka
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>For some reason I cannot see the gor_dv variable in the mainstage variable search, maybe I am going crazy but I tried looking yesterday today and it doesn't come up.</p>
<p>If you could help here that would be great,</p>
<p>Thanks,<br />Kamil</p> Support #1914 (In Progress): job title and descriptive information in the covid wavehttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/19142023-06-06T10:25:52ZShiyu Yuan
<p>To who it may concern,</p>
<p>I am currently using UKHLS covid wave 7,8,9 to conduct research. In the questionnaires, jbsoc variable exists in these three waves, but in the data file, I can only find it in wave 8.</p>
<p>Also, there is no derived industry variable, and I found the question in wave 8 is checking the industry in wave 7 and in wvae 9 is checking either wave 7 and wave8. In this case, can I get the information by firstly derived one industry variable for wave 8 and then another one for wave 9.</p>
<p>The last part is regarding the marriage/cohabitation status. Can I generate a variable based on household relationships? But what if they get married but not living together? According to the way UKHLS suggests finding a partner or spouse, does it mean we can only identify a spouse or partner for couples living together that have the same household address?</p>
<p>Would you mind helping me with this issue, please?</p>
<p>best<br />shiyu</p> Support #1874 (In Progress): Issue with religion variable in wave 12https://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/18742023-03-10T11:56:38ZLaurence O'Brien
<p>Hello support forum,</p>
<p>I think there might be an issue with the religion variable (l_oprlg1) in wave 12. I suspect this because nearly all the people who report belonging to both the Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic group (l_racel values 10 and 11) have l_oprlg1 = 11, indicating Christian (no specific denomination) religion. This can't be right - in other waves the vast majority of these ethnic groups report being Muslim. There are also some weird patterns for other ethnic groups, but this is the clearest indication of a mistake.</p>
<p>I therefore wonder if there is a coding issue for the values of l_oprlg1. Is this the right place to raise this issue to be looked into?</p>
<p>Many thanks,<br />Laurence</p> Support #1839 (In Progress): Combining individual level files across waves with different variabl...https://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/18392023-01-12T14:10:28ZIngrid Storm
<p>I am trying to follow the suggested syntax for appending individual level files across waves into a long format. However I wish to retain some variables that are not available in all the waves.</p>
<p>When I try to use the syntax dofile available on the website (MERGING INDIVIDUAL FILES ACROSS WAVES INTO LONG FORMAT) I get error messages when it encounters variables that are only available in some waves (e.g. "variable a_simrace not found").</p>
<p>I noticed on the moodle course a command called "isvar" was proposed as a solution. However, when I try this I also get an error message, saying that "the command isvar is not recognised" (I am using Stata version 17).</p>
<p>What do you propose?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your help</p> Support #1673 (In Progress): pensioner_dv seems to be wrong for menhttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/16732022-03-29T10:29:15ZTom Waters
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>The pensioner_dv variable is supposed to determine whether the respondent is past State Pension Age (SPA). But for men, in wave K, all men aged 64 or younger are defined as not being past SPA, and all men aged 65 or older are. However, men born after 6 December 1953 have a SPA after their 65th birthday (<a class="external" href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310231/spa-timetable.pdf">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310231/spa-timetable.pdf</a>)</p>
<p>For women this does not seem to be a problem - at least, there are 65 year old women in wave K for whom the pensioner_dv variable says they are below SPA.</p>
<p>(Though, there are 36 women in wave K who are 60 years old and pensioner_dv indicates that they are past SPA. Presumably that can't be right?)</p> Support #1627 (In Progress): Coding of k_ypfhweve in k_Youthhttps://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/16272022-01-10T11:24:40ZAlexandra Turner
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I have just started looking at the data in Wave K of the youth data file and found that for k_ypfhweve: "During an average week in term time, on how many evenings do you do any homework?" there were 155 cases coded as 9. I was wondering what this code relates to as I cannot find any guidance on how to interpret this data?</p>
<p>Many thanks,<br />Alexandra</p> Support #1304 (Resolved): The "fihhmnnet" net household income variables - what deductions are made?https://iserredex.essex.ac.uk/support/issues/13042020-01-22T13:23:43ZDavid Irvine
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Sorry to bother you. The Understanding Society online variable guide gives the following descriptions for the various household net income variables that are found in the hhresp tables...</p>
<pre><code>fihhmnnet3_dv="total household net income - no deductions" <br /> fihhmnnet3_dv="total household net income - individual/household deductions" <br /> fihhmnnet4_dv="total household net income - hb adj & individual/household deductions"</code></pre>
<p>I was wondering where I could find out what exactly the "deductions" referred to include, i.e. exactly what has been deducted from net income? Similarly, what exactly does "net" income mean in this context, e.g. is it net of income tax and national insurance only, or are pension contributions taken into account etc??</p>
<p>Would be grateful for any light you could shed on this please. Apologies if there's some obvious guidance I should be looking at (I tried the variable guide and had a look at the questionnaire but maybe I missed something - apologies if so).</p>
<p>Thanks in advance,</p>
<p>David</p>