BHPS Documentation – Record Type XWAVEDAT

Record Type XWAVEDAT contains substantive data about individuals which is fixed and only measured once in the panel. This includes information asked at the initial wave of entry and information collected later for new entrants.

These data tend to be located in different files depending on the individual wave of entry. The aim of this record type is to provide users with a single place to find such information.

The record type contains infomation on the following main topics: race, place of birth, school leaving age, type of school attended, father’s and mother’s job characteristics when aged 14, year of first marriage and first cohabitation, year in which first child born, first job characteristics, birth weight for children in the panel.

There is one record for each individual who has ever been a member of a respondent household. It is keyed on PID, the Cross-wave person identifier.

Variables relating to questions never asked of a respondent are coded (-8). If they were missing when asked, they are coded (-9).