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Re: Merging Metro Surveys 1998 and 2002

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"Kristen Crossney" <crossney@eden.rutgers.edu> asks:

>>Has anyone tried, and hopefully been successful, merging the 1998 and 2002 metro surveys? I'm running into it where the variable names have changed - and it's unclear if the information collected is discreetly different, or just collected under a different header.<<

In general, yes, the two surveys are compatible. However, when variable names change, it is usually because the questions changed. Here are some of the differences between the 1998 and 2002 surveys:

1. The 2002 survey was the first metro survey to include the journey to work (JTW) module.

2. The 2002 survey includes questions about gated communities and controlled access.

3. The 2002 survey used the revised mortage and home equity loan questions first used in the 2001 national survey.

4. The 2002 survey includes demographic data for the householder in the household file (NEWHOUSE). In previous surveys these data were available only in the PERSON file. Note that the HOUSHLD file was renamed NEWHOUSE because of this change.

5. The 2002 survey includes questions on nativity and citizenship.

There are other small differences between the surveys. Except for the changes in the mortgage module, the new variables represent information which had not been collected before. There were also a smaller number of variables that were dropped.

Are there specific variables whose names seem to have changed, other than in the mortgage module? Perhaps we could clear those up for you.

Dav Vandenbroucke
Economist
U.S. Dept. HUD
david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov
202-708-1060 ext. 5890