Understanding America Study

Data Products
Data Cleaning Process

The data files that are provided on the Understanding America Study data pages provide cleaned versions of the raw data. Cleaned here means the followings:

Answers given to questions that are not applicable anymore at survey completion (for example because a respondent went back in the survey and skipped over a previously answered question) are treated as if the questions were never asked. In the data files all questions that were asked, but not answered by the respondent are marked with ".e". All questions never seen by the respondent (or any dirty data) are marked with ".". The latter may mean that a respondent did not view the question because s/he skipped over it; or alternatively that s/he never reached that question in the survey due to a survey break off.
For incomplete surveys the end date variables are set to ".c".
Raw standard data variables are processed to match the standard variables and basic demographics listed here. As such, their names may differ from those in the survey codebook.

Default variables

The mapping between the cleaned default data variables and the raw data is as follows:

Cleaned data variable	Raw data variable
uasid	Equivalent of prim_key.
primary_respondent	No equivalent. Is derived from sampletype as follows: primary_respondent=0 if sampletype in [3,6,8,17] otherwise primary_respondent=1
uashhid	Equivalent of uashhid.
uashhid_current	Equivalent of uashhid_current.
survhhid	No equivalent. Calculated using cantor pairing of the uasid of all other members of the same UAS household at the time of the survey.
uasmembers	No equivalent. Calculated as the sum of all other members of the same UAS household at the time of the survey. Not available in data sets after October 8, 2024.
sampleframe	No equivalent. Is derived from sampletype as follows: sampleframe=1 if sampletype in [1, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40] sampleframe=2 if sampletype in [2, 4, 17, 39] sampleframe=3 if sampletype in [5, 6, 18, 19, 24, 25, 35] sampleframe=4 if sampletype in [20, 21, 22] Note: This variable was renamed from "sampletype" to "sampleframe" starting March 6, 2024. Older data sets will contain a variable named "sampletype" with slightly different labels for the four sample frames. The answer codes remain the same for each frame.
batch	No equivalent. Is derived from sampletype as follows: batch=1 if sampletype in [1, 3] batch=2 if sampletype in [2,17] batch=3 if sampletype=4 batch=4 if sampletype in [5,6] batch=5 if sampletype in [7,8] batch=6 if sampletype=10 batch=7 if sampletype=11 batch=8 if sampletype=12 batch=9 if sampletype=13 batch=10 if sampletype=14 batch=11 if sampletype=15 batch=12 if sampletype=16 batch=13 if sampletype=18 batch=14 if sampletype=19 batch=15 if sampletype in [20,21] batch=16 if sampletype=22 batch=17 if sampletype=23 batch=18 if sampletype=24 batch=19 if sampletype=25 batch=20 if sampletype=26 batch=21 if sampletype=27 batch=22 if sampletype=28 batch=23 if sampletype=29 batch=24 if sampletype=30 batch=25 if sampletype=31 batch=26 if sampletype=32 batch=27 if sampletype=33 batch=28 if sampletype=34 batch=29 if sampletype=35 batch=30 if sampletype=36 batch=31 if sampletype=37 batch=32 if sampletype=38 batch=33 if sampletype=39 batch=34 if sampletype=40 batch=35 if sampletype=42 batch=36 if sampletype=44 Note: this variable's answer category labels were renamed starting March 6, 2024. Older data sets will have different value labels, the answer codes remain the same for each batch.
language	Equivalent of language.
start_date (start_year, start_month, start_day, start_hour, start_min, start_sec)	No equivalent. Is derived from begintime.
end_date (end_year, end_month, end_day, end_hour, end_min, end_sec)	No equivalent. Is derived from endtime. For incomplete surveys the end date variables are set to ".c".

Background demographics

The mapping between the cleaned basic demographic variables and the raw data is as follows:

Cleaned data variable	Raw data variable
sex	Equivalent of sex (gender of the respondent, named gender in data sets prior to October 8, 2024).
genderid	Equivalent of newgender (empty if My Household Version 3 not answered yet).
sexualorientation	Equivalent of sexualorientation (empty if My Household Version 3 not answered yet).
dateofbirth_year	Equivalent of dateofbirth_year.
age	No equivalent. Calculated based on dateofbirth_year, dateofbirth_month and dateofbirth_day.
agerange	Equivalent of agerange. Is set to ".a" if age is known.
citizenus	Recoded equivalent of citizenus: 1 becomes 1 2 becomes 0
bornus	Recoded equivalent of bornus: 1 becomes 1 2 becomes 0
stateborn	Equivalent of stateborn. Is set to ".a" if bornus = 0.
countryborn	Equivalent of countryborn. Is set to ".a" if bornus = 1.
countryborn_other	Equivalent of countryborn_other. Is set to ".a" if bornus = 1 or countryborn != 300. Not available in data sets after October 8, 2024.
statereside	Equivalent of statereside.
maritalstatus	Equivalent of maritalstatus.
livewithpartner	Recoded equivalent of livewithpartner: 1 becomes 1 2 becomes 0
education	Equivalent of education.
hisplatino	Recoded equivalent of spanish: 1 becomes 1 2 becomes 0
hisplatinogroup	Equivalent of spanishgroup and spanishgroup_new. Is set to ".a" if hisplatino = 0. Available in data sets after October 8, 2024 on request.
white	No equivalent. Is derived from race as follows: white=1 if 1 in race (races1 = 1) white=0 if not 1 in race (races1 = 0)
black	No equivalent. Is derived from race as follows: black=1 if 2 in race (races2 = 1) black=0 if not 2 in race (races2 = 0)
nativeamer	No equivalent. Is derived from race as follows: nativeamer=1 if 3 in race (races3 = 1) nativeamer=0 if not 3 in race (races3 = 0)
asian	No equivalent. Is derived from race as follows: asian=1 if 4 in race (races4 = 1) asian=0 if not 4 in race (races4 = 0)
pacific	No equivalent. Is derived from race as follows: pacific=1 if 5 in race (races5 = 1) pacific=0 if not 5 in race (races5 = 0)
mena	Is equivalent to mena.
race	No equivalent. Is derived from white, black, nativeamer, asian and pacific as follows: race=1 if white = 1 and all others equal to 0 race=2 if black = 1 and all others equal to 0 race=3 if nativeamer = 1 and all others equal to 0 race=4 if asian = 1 and all others equal to 0 race=5 if pacific = 1 and all others equal to 0 race=6 if two or more of the listed variables are equal to 1
working	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (laborstatus if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: working=1 if 1 or 10 in laborstatus_13 working=0 if not 1 and 10 in laborstatus_13
sick_leave	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (laborstatus if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: sick_leave=1 if 2 in laborstatus_13 sick_leave=0 if not 2 in laborstatus_13
unemp_layoff	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (laborstatus if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: unemp_layoff=1 if 3 in laborstatus_13 unemp_layoff=0 if not 3 in laborstatus_13
unemp_look	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (laborstatus if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: unemp_look=1 if 4 in laborstatus_13 unemp_look=0 if not 4 in laborstatus_13
retired	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (laborstatus if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: retired=1 if 5 in laborstatus_13 retired=0 if not 5 in laborstatus_13
disabled	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (laborstatus if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: disabled=1 if 6 in laborstatus_13 disabled=0 if not 6 in laborstatus_13
workemployer	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (empty if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: workemployer=1 if 1 in laborstatus_13 workemployer=0 if 1 in laborstatus_13
workself	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (empty if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: workself=1 if 10 in laborstatus_13 workself=0 if 10 in laborstatus_13
homemaker	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (empty if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: homemaker=1 if 11 in laborstatus_13 homemaker=0 if 11 in laborstatus_13
student	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (empty if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: student=1 if 12 in laborstatus_13 student=0 if 12 in laborstatus_13
notworking	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (empty if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: notworking=1 if 13 in laborstatus_13 notworking=0 if 13 in laborstatus_13
lf_other	No equivalent. Is derived from laborstatus_13 (laborstatus if My Household Version 3 not answered yet) as follows: lf_other=1 if 7 or 11 or 12 or 13 in laborstatus_13 lf_other=0 if not (7 or 11 or 12 or 13) in laborstatus_13
laborstatus	No equivalent. Is derived from working, sick_leave, unemp_layoff, unemp_look, retired, disabled and lf_other as follows: laborstatus=1 if working = 1 and all others equal to 0 laborstatus=2 if sick_leave = 1 and all others equal to 0 laborstatus=3 if unemp_layoff = 1 and all others equal to 0 laborstatus=4 if unemp_look = 1 and all others equal to 0 laborstatus=5 if retired = 1 and all others equal to 0 laborstatus=6 if disabled = 1 and all others equal to 0 laborstatus=7 if lf_other = 1 and all others equal to 0 laborstatus=8 if two or more of the listed variables are equal to 1
employmenttype	Equivalent of employmenttype. Available in data sets after October 8, 2024 on request.
workfullpart	Equivalent of workfullpart. Available in data sets after October 8, 2024 on request.
hourswork	Equivalent of hourswork.
hhincome	Equivalent of hhincome.
hhmembernumber	No equivalent. Is equal to hhcomp_total for My Household Version 3. Prior to October 8, 2024 it is derived from hhmemberactive_# by counting the number of instances with value equal to 1.
anyhhmember	No equivalent. Is based on hhcomp_total > 0 or not for My Household Version 3. Prior to October 8, 2024 it is derived from hhmembers_anyone, hhmembers_new and hhmemberactive_#.
hhcomp_male_0_4 to hhcomp_other_65plus	Are equivalent to their exact counterparts.
hhcomp_total_18_64, hhcomp_total_65plus, hhcomp_total_adults, hhcomp_total_children and hhcomp_total	Are equivalent to the sum of the relevant variables as calculated within the My Household survey.
hhmemberin_#	No equivalent. Asked up until October 8, 2024. Available in data sets after October 8, 2024 on request. Is derived from hhmemberactive_# as follows: hhmemberin_# = 1 if hhmemberactive_# = 1 hhmemberin_# = 0 if hhmemberactive_# in [2, 3]
hhmembergen_#	Equivalent of hhmembergender_#. Asked up until October 8, 2024. Available in data sets after October 8, 2024 on request.
hhmemberage_#	Equivalent of hhmemberage_#. Asked up until October 8, 2024. Available in data sets after October 8, 2024 on request.
hhmemberrel_#	Equivalent of hhmemberrelationship_#. Asked up until October 8, 2024. Available in data sets after October 8, 2024 on request.
hhmemberuasid_#	Equivalent of hhmemberuasrtid_#. Asked up until October 8, 2024. Available in data sets after October 8, 2024 on request.
lastmhyhh_date	Reformatted from lastmyhh.
endtime_previous_hh_version	Equivalent of endtime_previous_hh_version.