1.2 Data access and simple analysis

All the BHPS database is available (waves 1 to 14) in SPSS and Stata formats. SPSS files are in s:\bhps\spss\ with file extension .sav and Stata files are in s:\bhps\stata\ with extension .dta.

Use e.g., Windows Explorer (or simply File Open Data from within SPSS) to view the drives to make sure you've found the right ones, and to get an overview of the database.

The first letter of the file name indicates the wave (A=1 ... N=14). The most used file in each wave is probably wINDRESP (e.g., bindresp.sav, findresp.sav) which holds most of the individual-level info. wHHRESP holds household level info, and since wave 4 wYOUTH contains the data from the youth self-completion questionnaire.

Load a file into SPSS and study the variable list (either in the Data Editor, DISPlay labels in syntax, or through Utilities Variables through the GUI).

1. Pick some categorical variables and get frequency tables.
2. Pick interesting pairs (e.g., sex and employment status, that is wSEX and wJBSTAT in wINDRESP)
3. Find some continuous variables and explore their distribution using DESCRIPTIVES