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Survey of Consumer Finances SCF index |
Survey Data | Replicate Weight Files
Summary Description of 1998 Survey Results
Recent Changes in U.S. Family Finances: Results from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances
Arthur B. Kennickell, Martha Starr-McCluer, and Brian J. Surette
Federal Reserve Bulletin, vol. 86 (January 2000), pp. 1-29.
Article (122 KB PDF) | Article (924 KB Postscript)
Expanded versions of the tables in the Bulletin article, in
Excel format
The most recent version of the tables based on internal and public data are located
here.
SCF Chartbook
See the 2004 version for a description.
Documentation of 1998 Survey Data
Four types of technical documentation for the 1998 SCF are available on this page: the 1998 codebook, a questionnaire-style summary of the survey instrument, the household enumeration folder (HEF), an executable copy of the computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) program. In addition, technical working papers on the survey methodology are available.
Codebook for the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances
The codebook contains the text, variable names, and responses for the questions asked in the survey. Also provided are a brief summary of the technical features of the survey design, a copy of the source code for the CAPI program, a concordance of variable names in the final data set and those used in the CAPI program, and a list of the variables included in the public data set.
Codebook (3.1 MB ASCII)
Codebook last updated April 25, 2007
Questionnaire-Style Summary of the 1998 SCF CAPI Instrument
This document is based on the questionnaire for the 1992 SCF, the last of the surveys for which a paper questionnaire was used. The questionnaire has been altered to include changes to the instrument since 1992, and each variable in the final data set has been labeled with its corresponding SCF X-variable number. In most cases, the question skip instructions have not been updated. Other relatively small inconsistencies with the actual CAPI instrument also remain. The codebook is the appropriate place to turn for the fine details of the structure of the data, the exact text of the questions asked, and the full list of official codes. Nevertheless, the questionnaire format of this document may be useful for understanding the overall organization of the survey. At key points during the administration of the interview, interviewers show the respondents a series of cards containing information relevant to framing or answering a question. Most of this information is displayed as part of the question text or response categories, but some is more general.
Questionnaire-style summary (7.8 MB PDF)
Showcards (28.8 KB PDF)
Document last updated March 1, 2001
Household Enumeration Folder (HEF)
The 1998 HEF contains forms used for the non-interview reports, the household listing, the first contact with the household, and the record of calls made on the household.
HEF for AP cases (24.6 KB PDF) | HEF for LS cases (25.4 KB PDF)
Executable Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) Program
The 1998 survey data were collected using CAPI. A copy of the source code for the program is included in the codebook above. To see more directly the process faced by survey interviewers, use the executable version of the CAPI program posted below. The main program files are stored in a self-extracting zip file. A short README file describes the installation and running of the program on a DOS or Windows system. The version of the program offered here has been altered so that no data are saved upon exiting the program. No warranty is made for the performance of these files.
Note: CAPI program is not compatible with Windows NT system.
CAPI installation README (3.3 KB ASCII)
CAPI Program Files (1.6 MB EXE)
Install.BAT (1 KB MS-DOS Batch File)
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1998 Survey Data
Two general types of data set are provided: first, the full public data set is given in SAS, Stata, and ASCII formats; second, an extract file of summary variables is provided in Excel format. All of these files are provided in compressed form as WINZIP files. (See H.15 for software to uncompress WINZIP files.)
Missing data in the survey have been imputed five times using a
multiple imputation technique. The information is stored in five
separate and internally coherent imputation replicates (implicates).
Thus, for the 4,309 families interviewed for the survey, there are
21,545 records in the data set. Four observations were deleted for
the public version of the data set for purposes of disclosure
avoidance; thus, there are 21,525 records in the public data set for
4,305 families. The codebook provides more detail on the structure of
the data set and the steps taken for disclosure avoidance.
Full Public Data Set
The full final survey data are available to the public in two SAS transport
formats that may be used with the current version of SAS.
(Help is available for importing these
files as SAS data sets.) One version is created using PROC CPORT; this
is the smaller of the two files. The second one is created using PROC
COPY with the EXPORT option; this file may be particularly convenient
for users who do not have access to SAS, but who do have some means of
translating the data set to another form using a software package that
does not support CPORT files.
WARNING: Some browser versions will download these
files in unzipped form; the resulting PROC CPORT transport file will require
189 MB of disk space and the resulting PROC COPY transport file will
require 438 MB of disk space. When uncompressed and imported as a V9.1.3
engine SAS data set, these files require 589 MB of disk space.
Main survey data: CPORT version (8.8 MB ZIP)
Main survey data: COPY/EXPORT version (16.1 MB ZIP)
Data last updated March 2, 2007
Full Public Data Set: Stata format
A second version of the full public data set is given as a Stata data
set. Because the data set contains approximately 5000 variables, users
will need to use Stata SE if they wish to import all the variables. Users of
standard Stata will need to specify a subset of variables when using
the data set.
WARNING: Some browser versions will download these files in
unzipped form; the resulting Stata file will require 204 MB of disk
space.
Main survey data: Stata (11.7 MB ZIP)
Data last updated March 2, 2007
Full Public Data Set: ASCII format
A third version of the full public data set is given in ASCII format.
The variables included have exactly the same values as those in the
SAS and Stata data set. The layout of the variables is given by a format file,
which is provided in Excel and tab-delimited formats. Note that
under certain operating systems the end of record marker will add one
character to the record length listed in the format file.
WARNING: Some browser versions will download these
files in unzipped form; the resulting ASCII file will require 1.02 GB of disk space.
Main survey data: ASCII (30.1 MB ZIP)
Map of variables: Excel (607 KB)
Map of variables: Tab-delimited (198 KB)
Data last updated March 2, 2007
Tabling Wizard and Extract of the Full Public Data Set
The extract file of the survey data is provided in Excel format. The
summary variables included correspond to those used in the analysis
reported in the Bulletin article available above. All dollar values
are given in 1998 dollars. The definitions of the summary variables are
given in a worksheet included with the program and more detailed
defintions are provided in the SAS program used to create the summary
variables. Two versions of the extract are
provided. One includes a tabling wizard written with Visual Basic code;
the other does not. The tabling wizard allows users to calculate
tables of descriptive weighted statistics. Please refer to the
manual for instructions on how to use this wizard.
WARNING: Some browser versions will download these spreadsheet
files in unzipped form; the resulting XLS file will require
26 MB of disk space for the file that only includes data and 15.6 MB for
the file that includes the tabling wizard and data.
SAS program used to create summary variables
Extract of public data (3.8 MB ZIP)
Extract of public data with SCF tabling
wizard (2.5 MB ZIP)
SCF tabling wizard manual (48 KB PDF)
Data last updated April 25, 2007
Replicate Weight Files
For many purposes, one must consider the sampling error of SCF
estimates. However, because detailed information on the sample design
cannot be released, and because of the complexity of the SCF design,
users cannot apply some of the standard procedures for
variance estimation. A set of sample replicates has been created with
bootstrap techniques and analysis weights have been computed
independently for each replicate. Analysts may use these weights to
make approximate estimates of sampling variance. Replicate weights
corresponding to X42001 are available. See the
codebook for more details. When uncompressed and restored to a V9.1.3
engine SAS data set, each file requires 47.3 MB of disk space.
WARNING: Some browser versions will download these files in
unzipped form; the resulting
PROC CPORT transport file will require 39.7 MB of disk space, the resulting
PROC COPY transport file will require 45.4 MB of disk space, and the
resulting Stata file will require 20.8 MB of disk space.
Replicate weights--X42001: CPORT version (25.2 MB
ZIP)
Replicate weights--X42001: COPY/EXPORT version
(25.2 MB ZIP)
Replicate weights--X42001: Stata version
(12.5 MB ZIP)
Data last updated February 24, 2006