Metadata
Repository and
ELSA linked data
Kate Taylor
NatCen
Content
• RAND metadata repository
• ELSA data and documentation available
Metadata
Repository
RAND Metadata Repository
• metadata.rand.org
• Metadata of international longitudinal studies
about ageing
• Metadata is the content of the questionnaire, how
and when the data was collected and how it is
formatted
Surveys on the site
• Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
• English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)
• Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)
• Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS)
• Korean Longitudinal Study on Aging (KLoSA)
• Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR)
• Chinese Health and Retirement Study (CHARLS)
• Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing (TILDA)
• Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI)
• Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS)
• Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE)
Useful functions
• Search for questions in different waves of ELSA
using keywords or topics
• Search for comparable questions in other
studies
• Browse metadata – domains & subdomains
• Explore general statistics (e.g. life expectancy,
unemployment rates) by country and year
• Download harmonized (identically defined)
variables – HRS, ELSA, SHARE, KLoSA
• Add comments to variables with “Wikipedia-like”
system
Searching
Browsing
RH ELSA
data
Obtaining
study data
Country
stats
Future developments
Flowcharts for ELSA (add on next page)
Make it more user friendly
Input from users welcome
How to register
ELSA data &
documentation
ELSA data in archive
Waves 1 – 4
• Core variables and financial derived variables
• Training dataset
Waves 2 & 4 Nurse data
Wave 3 Life History data
Wave 0 (HSE) data for original sample
Index file for linking (including mortality data)
ELSA documentation
Currently archived:
• Complete questionnaires
• Field documents, coding & editing info etc.
• User guides for datasets
Future developments:
• Improved versions of the questionnaires
Future data to be archived
Wave 3 & 4 (non-financial) derived vars May
Updated (W4) index file (incl mortality) June
Wave 5 core data & derived vars December
Other data available (not archived)
• Wave 2 genetics data
• Application procedure on ESDS ELSA website – contact Meena
Kumari for EDNAR application form
• Geography variables (Waves 0-4)
• e.g. Local Authority, urban/rural indicator, population density
• User guide on ESDS ELSA website
• Non-archived mortality variables – i.e. full date & cause of death
• Other non-archived variables – e.g. month of birth
• Request application form from NatCen ELSA data manager for all
of the above (except genetics)
Linked admin data – DWP &
HMRC
• National insurance contributions & benefit
records
• Data is held at NatCen
• Request form from NatCen ELSA data manager
• BUT not currently able to give it out
• Tax records, savings and pensions (permission
asked from wave 3 respondents onwards)
• Do not yet have data
• Contact ELSA data manager if interested
Linked admin data – Health
• NHS Central Register (mortality)
• Age of death archived
• Full date and cause of death can be requested
• Cancer register
• Can be requested
• Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES)
• Expect to receive this soon
• Only people named on the application form can use it
• Contact ELSA data manager if interested
Where to get more info
ELSA users website
• www.ifs.org.uk/elsa
Archived data and associated documentation
• www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/
ELSA data managers
To contact me...
The English
Longitudinal Study of
Ageing (ELSA)