Longitudinal Data Master Files

General Description

These pages:

Describe the longitudinal data
Allow users to download data directly from the Website

Researchers can now download datasets known as CHNS Longitudinal Master Files. These new Master Files are designed to make longitudinal analysis of the CHNS Survey data much easier. The new Master Files consolidate and standardize data from multiple survey years into a select number of Master Files, and they address the following problems:

ID (identification numbers) problems are corrected and consistent across all survey years. In addition, individuals who have lived in multiple households and had multiple IDs, now have all their data stored under their most current ID. Their previous IDs have been saved in the Master ID file.

Birth dates are corrected and stored only in the Master ID File. And birth dates are now stored as both Western and Lunar dates.

Gender has been corrected as needed and is stored only in the Master ID File and the Master PE File.

Household Interview Dates are determined for all longitudinal files that may need to calculate age. Age is generally calculated as ((Household Interview Date - Western DOB) / 365.25).

Variable names are standardized across all survey years when they represent the same survey question. With a few exceptions, they are standardized to the 2000 variable name.

Data formatting is standardized across all survey years. All dates are now stored in the YYYYMMDD format.

Click here to obtain a detailed pdf file that provides a full layout of the contents and organization of these files.

Download the Data