Null multiple mention variables and variables from null loops beyond the first
mention or first loop are not included in the data. It is generally the case
that one null multiple mention and one null loop was retained.
8A1b. Masked Variables
To protect the confidentiality of the information that respondents provide, a
number of variables have been masked or are simply not included in the Early
release public dataset. Some of these variables may be made available to
analysts as restricted data in the future. See our Web site for details.
Names, addresses, days of birth, information on geographical relocation and
similar variables are not included in publicly released files.
Geographical locations are recoded to a level no more detailed than U.S. Census
Region and Division. Data on the highest educational degree earned have been
further grouped together to increase cell sizes.
The names of variables that were masked for confidentiality end in the capital
letter "M"; for example, variable SX026M (1ST ADDRESS STATE – MASKED).
8A1C. Other Specify Questions, Comments and Open Ends
“Other Specify” and “Open End”, or questions that are answered with text (e.g.,
vocabulary words, industry and occupation) are not included in Early data
releases. In many instances, these appear as blanks in the data but sometimes
they are designated with “Data Not Available” text. Data from these types of
questions should be available, where possible, in the Final data release.
8A2. Other Types of Documentation
In addition to this document and the codebook, three additional types of
documentation are available.
8A2a. Overview of HRS Public Data Files for Cross-sectional and Longitudinal
Analysis
This is a thorough document that provides a description of structure and content
for all HRS public data files and a detailed explanation for handling the
longitudinal nature of the survey. It is located here:
8A2b. Box and Arrow Questionnaire
The research community has referred to the type of documentation that describes
the questions asked in the interview as a “questionnaire”. Since the 2022 HRS
data were collected using a Computer Assisted Interview (CAI) program, a
traditional hard-copy questionnaire was not produced as part of the data
collection phase. Therefore, in order to document question sequencing, we have
provided a current-wave version of the traditional box and arrow questionnaire.
The Box and Arrow Questionnaires are the “commented version” which include all
changes made for the 2022 instrument. Changes can be found by searching for “#@”
in the document.
8A2c. Cross-Wave Tracker File
The cross-wave tracker file contains basic demographic information, interview
status, and if, when and how an interview was conducted during a specific data
collection period. The cross-wave tracker file also contains weight variables.
The tracker file contains one record for every person who was ever eligible to
be interviewed in any wave. Please refer to the Cross-Wave Tracker data
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February 2024, Version 1.0