1. EPUNet Training Course 2005 Day 1 Tutors: Olaf Jürgens and Christian Schmitt Berlin, April 11th to April 15th 2005

2. Overview –Questionnaires –PDB vs. UDB –Ex-Post vs. Ex-Ante Harmonization

3. Questionnaires PDB Questionnaires (Production Data Base) PDB contains the following files:  Personal File  Household File  Personal Register File  Household Register File This is the data that was collected in the field

4. Questionnaires UDB Questionnaires (User Data Base) UDB data is based on a conversion of PDB data that is similar for all countries Central tool for getting information  ECHP UDB Description of Variables (Doc-Pan 166) Codebook referring to ECHP contents and cross national differences

5. ECHP Participation across Europe ECHP consists of 8 waves All countries 1994 to 2001 except: –Austria (1995-2001) –Finland (1996-2001) –Luxembourg (1995-2001) –Sweden (1997-2001 cross-section only!)

6. From PDB to UDB ECHP Data generation – two step process  PDB vs.  UDB PDB: Collecting the data in the field by NDUs (National Data Units) Transmission of data to EUROSTAT UDB: Converting national data using a generalized algorithm into User Data Base format

7. Ex-Ante (Input) Harmonization Concept: Unique set of questions as basis for a cross national comparable data-set True for all countries except –Luxembourg (PSELL, 1995-2001) –Germany (SOEP) –UK (BHPS)

8. Ex-Ante (Input) Harmonization Concept: Unique set of questions as basis for a cross national comparable data-set Further Exceptions: –Timing of national panels –Cloning of national data sets –Differences in modes of data collection –Differences in national settings (policy settings, etc.)

9. Ex-Post (Output) Harmonization Data is transformed (cloned) to fit a unique concept after data collection –Luxembourg (PSELL) (wave 2, 1995) –Germany (SOEP) –UK (BHPS) Both (bold) starting with wave 1 (1994)  Limitations  Advantages

10. Ex-Post (Output) Harmonization Limitations  Different tracing rules  Different panel mortality structure Coverage of questionnaires:  Inconvertible variables  Unavailable variables  Different wording of variables  Different contents of variables

11. Ex-Post (Output) Harmonization Unavailable Information: Luxembourg Labour market related variables Household durables Education/Training Health Care Migration Life satisfaction

12. Ex-Post (Output) Harmonization Unavailable Information: UK Financial Situation (Household) Employment related information Health Care Life satisfaction

13. Ex-Post (Output) Harmonization Unavailable Information: Germany Household durables Health Care Migration Life satisfaction (problems of scale) Current (Re-)Training and Education

14. Ex-Post (Output) Harmonization Advantages  Reliable data sources  Available range and depth of information  Flexible integration of country-specific settings and concepts

15. Input/Output Harmonization For more details on ECHP related harmonization see: Roland Günther (2003): CHINTEX Working paper #19. http://www.destatis.de/chintex/proj_des/wp_1.htm

16. Files to use –PDB-UDB.xls –Country-File (as example for the two German samples)