AHS Digest

Here are the AHS Digest messages:


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From: "Vandenbroucke, David A" <David.A.Vandenbroucke@hud.gov> on 8/28/2007 9:10:54 AM
Subject: AHS User-Supplied Program Archive Updated

The user-supplied program archive on the HUD USER web site for the
American Housing Survey has been updated to include record layout files
for all AHS metropolitan datasets through 1996. You can download the
archive in self-extracting or ordinary zip formats from
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahs.html .

As the name implies, the user-supplied program archive is a collection
of computer routines that AHS users (inside and outside of government)
have contributed to save others the trouble having to write them from
scratch. Most of the routines in the archive are SAS programs for
reading older AHS datasets, although there are a few examples of Stata
and SPSS programming.

The current update extends the collection of record layout files for AHS
metro survey data from 1973-1983 to cover the period 1973-1996. Until
the 1997 redesign, AHS datasets were released in a fixed-column ASCII
format, requiring one to know which columns of the data records
represent which variable. While the record layouts are printed in the
relevant codebooks, typing such information into a program is tedious
and error-prone. The record layouts are simple text files that list
each variable and the number of columns it occupies. One can copy and
paste these into the input statement for SAS, SPSS, etc.

Note that the ASCII files released since 1997 use a comma-delimited
format and do not need separate record layout files to be imported into
most statistical packages.

If you have written any AHS-related code that you find yourself reusing
regularly, please consider contributing it to the program archive, so
that others can take advantage of it. You can send your contributions
to me at the address below.

Dav Vandenbroucke
Senior Economist
U.S. Dept. HUD
david.a.vandenbroucke@hud.gov
202-402-5890


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From: "Vandenbroucke, David A" <David.A.Vandenbroucke@hud.gov> on 9/7/2007 2:20:09 PM
Subject: AHS 2007 Survey Detailed Specifications File

The detailed specifications file for the 2007 American Housing Survey
instrument is now available for download from the HUD USER web site,
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahs.html . This is a zip file
that contains a 12 MB, 2200-page Microsoft Word document giving the
detailed specifications for all items in the Blaise-based 2007 survey
instrument. It is intended for users who need more detail about the
logic of the instrument program than they can get from the instrument
items file.

The instrument items file is already on the web site. In most cases,
you will be able to find what you want to know about how a question is
phrased, what the responses are, and where it occurs in the instrument
using the smaller file.

Dav Vandenbroucke
Senior Economist
U.S. Dept. HUD
david.a.vandenbroucke@hud.gov
202-402-5890


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