The Panel Study of Income Dynamics A User's Guide

by Martha S. Hill

• ISBN13: 9780803946095
• ISBN10: 0803946090
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-10-29
• Publisher: Sage Publications

Summary

Now researchers can more effectively use the abundant array of data from the annual Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) by utilizing this handy guidebook. Aimed at making this rich data set more accessible, The Panel Study of Income Dynamics describes PSID''s topics, study design, research methods, and available data files. It reviews key analysis issues and identifies essential variables for the user. Several detailed analysis examples show how to make use of the PSID to estimate earnings regressions, changes in women''s income following divorce, and the correlation between parents'' income and a child''s adult income, as well as to create a longitudinal poverty measure. This guidebook concludes by giving information on how to obtain PSID documents and the data files themselves. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is an essential resource for all researchers--particularly those studying income, employment, family, health, wealth, and retirement. "Hill''s book provides a cognet and painstaking introduction to a complex base. . . . Hill provides a comprehensive overview of the substantive content of the PSID. . . . The reader will find everything needed to make a decision concerning initial use of the PSID, including the storage size in megabytes (MB) of each available file. . . . By providing a brief yet thorough overview of this complex data set, Hill''s book increases the PSID''s accessibility. This book is thus a welcome addition to the new series." --Journal of the American Statistical Association "The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). . . offers sociologists the type of detailed, longitudinal information that informs today''s agenda-setting research on poverty, earnings, employment patterns, and family life-course transitions. The PSID''s richness. . . derives from a complex data structure. . . . Hill''s guide, the second of a Sage series intended to assist researchers in the use of major social science data bases, extends aid to both the prospective and the experienced PSID analyst. Written in direct, easy-to-read prose, this slim volume provides a concise introduction to the PSID, summarizing special features of the panel''s design, content, and data-editing procedures. Readers are informed of the main subtleties involved in applying weights that correct for sample attrition and selection probabilities; though brief, Hill''s treatment of this topic helps to demystify a fairly complicated set of rules. Newcomers especially stand to benefit from the description of key filtering variables one must use to exploit the longitudinal possibilities of the data and from a set of helpful summary tables. Old friends of the PSID, along with the just acquainted, will appreciate the instructive examples of cross-sectional analysis, pooled cross-section of time-series regression, and other longitudinal estimation strategies--ones that nicely illustrate certain steps involved in successfully analyzing the data. . . . Hill''s handbook is a valuable resource. Researchers preparing to use this data set for the first time can now avail themselves of a compact, well-rounded digest of PSID essentials. Experienced practitioners will welcome the volume as a quick, reliable reference for many details that recurrently affect PSID date management and analysis." --Contemporary Sociology "Martha Hill has done an excellent job with this relatively brief description of an extremely complicated data set. It is clear, reads well, describes the main features and complications of the data, and provides very useful summary tables. It will be a very useful introduction to the PSID for new users at all levels of sophistication; it will also be a useful resource for experienced users, simply because it provides clear answers to the most common problems encountered when using the PSID." --Annemette Sorensen, Harvard University "Dr. Hill''s monograph provides a useful overview of a major social science research data base--The Panel Study of Income Dynamics.

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Introduction	ix
Foreword	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	1	(6)
Monograph Purpose and Content	1	(1)
Overview of the PSID	2	(2)
Origin of the PSID	4	(1)
Administration and Funding	5	(1)
Illustrative Uses of the PSID	5	(2)
Study Design	7	(4)
Overall Design	7	(1)
Sample Design	8	(3)
Sample Frame	8	(2)
Latino Supplemental Sample	10	(1)
Tracking Rules	10	(1)
Field Procedures	11	(4)
Data Collection	11	(3)
Interviewer Hiring and Training	12	(1)
Monitoring	13	(1)
Assignment of Interviewers to Respondents	13	(1)
Maximizing Response Rates	14	(1)
Data Preparation	15	(10)
Coding and Cleaning	15	(2)
Precoding Editing	15	(1)
Coding	16	(1)
Postcoding Cleaning	17	(1)
Computer-Generated Variables	17	(1)
Missing-Data Conventions	18	(1)
Construction of Weights	19	(6)
The 1968 Weights	19	(2)
Adjustments to the Sampling Rates and Family Weights Since 1968	21	(2)
Adjustments to Individual Weights Since 1968	23	(1)
Nonsample Individuals	24	(1)
Data Quality	25	(7)
Response Rates	25	(1)
Unicon Study	26	(1)
Lillard-Waite Study of Marital Histories	26	(1)
Curtin, Juster, and Morgan Study of Wealth	27	(1)
Other Evidence on Representativeness	28	(1)
Validation Study	29	(1)
``Seam'' Transitions	30	(2)
Content	32	(8)
Topics	32	(3)
Core Content	33	(1)
Intermittent Content	33	(2)
Types of Variables	35	(5)
Family-Level Variables	35	(4)
Individual-Level Variables	39	(1)
Data Files	40	(13)
Main Data Files	41	(6)
Types of Main Data Files	41	(4)
Basic Structure of Main PSID Files	45	(2)
Special Public-Release Files	47	(3)
Demographic History Files	47	(2)
Work-History File	49	(1)
Relationship File	49	(1)
1988 Time and Money Transfers File	49	(1)
1990 Health Supplement	50	(1)
Special Restricted Files	50	(1)
PSID-Geocode and Census-Extract Files	50	(1)
Death Index Information	51	(1)
Documentation	51	(2)
Data Analysis	53	(30)
Key Analysis Issues	53	(15)
Unit of Analysis	54	(1)
Family Composition Change	55	(2)
Construction of Variables	57	(1)
Data Quality Issues	58	(2)
Weighting the Data	60	(2)
Sampling Errors and Design Effects	62	(6)
Split-Sample Hypothesis Testing	68	(1)
Key Variables	68	(2)
Which Files for What Analysis?	70	(3)
Data Analysis Examples	73	(10)
Single-Year Cross-Sectional Regression	74	(2)
Multiyear Pooled Cross-Sectional Regression	76	(2)
Longitudinal Measure of Poverty	78	(1)
Longitudinal Estimae of Change in Income	79	(2)
Intergenerational Income Correlation	81	(2)
Getting Started	83	(4)
Ordering Data Files and Documentation	83	(1)
Public-Release Files	83	(1)
Special Restricted Files	84	(1)
User Guide	84	(1)
Bibliography and User Survey	85	(1)
Staff Assistance	86	(1)
References	87	(2)
About the Author	89