Unit of Analysis

The CHNS data have been collected at many different levels: community, household, individual, job, food item, etc. The unit of analysis for a file can often be determined by a careful review of the appropriate questionnaire section.

Because of the multi-level nature of the data and the large number of files, most users of the CHNS data must perform complex file merges on a regular basis. A thorough understanding of complex file structures is critical to the successful use of these data. To merge CHNS files properly, users must know the unit of analysis for each data file, be familiar with the case identifiers (ID Variables), and understand exactly how to use their software to combine files.