What is the Documentation zip file?

The Documentation zip file contains:

• Subject level coding frameworks (in PDF format) for all variables in the household, enumerated person, responding person and combined files
• A cross-wave index (a brief summary of the Subject level coding framework)
• Coding frameworks for the longitudinal weights and master files
• Marked-up questionnaires, and
• Showcards (in PDF format) showing the associated variable names excluding derived and history variables.

Frequencies for each wave are also provided in a separate file. String variables (IDs and timestamps) are usually excluded from these frequencies.

To quickly locate variable names, the HILDA Survey User Manual should be used in conjunction with the cross-wave index, which is searchable by question number, keyword or variable name (excluding the first character wave identifier).

The cross-wave index indicates the availability of a particular variable in each wave, as well as the source questionnaire (or history, for derived variables).