Documentation » User Guides to Study Content
This page contains links to documents designed to provide additional
information to "hands-on" users of HRS data products. Entries marked by
are available on-line in PDF format and can be accessed using
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
User Guides
User Guides are designed to provide analysts with documentation about the concepts, measures and questions in the HRS surveys. These reports expand upon the information found in codebooks, questionnaires and data descriptions. They also provide comprehensive descriptions of created measures (including their origin), changes made across waves, variable distributions, and results from data quality analysis.
- Honggao Cao, IMPUTE: A SAS Application System for Missing Value Imputations--With Special Reference to HRS Income/Assets.
HRS Documentation Report DR-007 (2001).
- Honggao Cao, John Henretta, Theresa Norgard, Beth Soldo and David Weir, HRS 2001 HUMS College Tuition Imputations
(June 2005).
- Philippa Clarke, Gwenith Fisher, Jim House, Jacqui Smith, and David Weir,
Guide to Content of the HRS Psychosocial Leave-Behind Participant Lifestyle Questionnaires: 2004 & 2006.
Documentation Report v2.0 (December 2008).
- Eileen Crimmins, Heidi Guyer, Kenneth Langa, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Robert Wallace, and David Weir,
Documentation of Biomarkers in the Health and Retirement Study.
HRS Documentation Report (April 2009).
- Eileen Crimmins, Heidi Guyer, Kenneth Langa, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Robert Wallace, and David Weir,
Documentation of Physical Measures, Anthropometrics and
Blood Pressure in the Health and Retirement Study.
HRS Documentation Report DR-011 (February 2008).
- Gwenith G. Fisher, Jessica D. Faul, David R. Weir, and Robert B. Wallace,
Documentation of Chronic Disease Measures in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS/AHEAD).
HRS Documentation Report DR-009 (February 2005).
- Stephanie Fonda and A. Regula Herzog,
Documentation of Physical Functioning Measures in the Health and
Retirement Study and the Asset and Health Dynamics among the
Oldest Old Study. HRS Documentation Report DR-008 (December 2004)
- Kristi Rahrig Jenkins, Mary Beth Ofstedal and David Weir,
Documentation of Health Behaviors and Risk Factors
Measured in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS/AHEAD).
HRS Documentation Report DR-010 (February 2008).
- Steven G. Heeringa, Gwenith G. Fisher, Michael Hurd, Kenneth M. Langa, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Brenda L. Plassman, Willard L. Rodgers and David R. Weir,
Aging, Demographics And Memory Study (ADAMS): Sample Design, Weighting and Analysis for ADAMS
(June 2009).
- Helen Levy and Italo Gutierrez,
Documentation and Benchmarking
of Health Insurance Measures in the Health And Retirement Study.
(August 2009).
- Mary Beth Ofstedal, Gwenith G. Fisher and A. Regula Herzog,
Documentation of
Cognitive Functioning Measures in the Health and Retirement Study.
HRS Documentation Report DR-006 (March 2005).
Please note that this replaces earlier (2001 and 2002) versions of this report.
- Diane E. Steffick,
Documentation of Affective Functioning Measures in the Health and Retirement Study
HRS Documentation Report DR-005 (2000).
Data Use Guides
Data Use Guides provide analysts, research assistants and other support personnel responsible for data management with additional documentation about the data structure of individual HRS surveys as well as information on special data manipulation topics.
- Olivia Mitchell, Jan Olson, and Thomas Steinmeier. 1996.
Construction of the Earnings and Benefits File (EBF) for Use With the Health and Retirement Study.
HRS/AHEAD Documentation Report DR-001. A updated and revised version of this paper is available
in Social Security Earnings and Projected Benefits, Olivia S. Mitchell, P. Brett Hammond and Anna M.
Rappaport, eds., Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. See Chapter 13,
"Forecasting Retirement Needs and Retirement Wealth"
- Michael A. Nolte and Marita A. Servais,
Occupation and Industry Coding in HRS/AHEAD. (August 2008).
- Marita A. Servais, Overview of HRS Public Data Files for Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Analysis (May 2009).
Please note that this replaces earlier versions of this report.
- Marita A. Servais, An Elementary Cookbook of Data Management using HRS Data with SPSS, SAS and Stata Examples (June 2004).
- Helena Stolyarova, Michael A. Nolte and Robert Peticolas. 2008. Pension Estimation Program
Users Guide. This is the documentation for the current version of the pension estimation program. It replaces
HRS Documentation Report DR-004, Pension Estimation Program Documentation,
Curtin, Lamkin, and Peticolas (1998) and Robert Peticolas and Helena Stolyarova Pension Estimation Program
Users Guide (2003). The data for the Pension Estimation Program were obtained by analyzing and codifying
Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) using the Pension Coding Program, a software product designed specifically for this purpose.
The Pension Coding Program program replaced the paper-and-pencil coding instruments that were used in 1992. Researchers may wish
to examine the Pension Coding Program Users Guide for information on
HRS coding procedures. Note: The Pension Coding software package was developed for internal use only and is not available for distribution.
Survey and Sample Design
- Hauser, Robert M. and Robert J. Willis. 2005.
Survey Design and Methodology in the
Health and Retirement Study and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. This is an electronic version
of an article published in Aging, Health, and Public Policy: Demographic and Economic Perspectives,
a supplement to Population and Development Review Volume 30. New York: Population Council, 2005.
©2005 by The Population Council, Inc.
- Heeringa, Steven G. and Judith Connor. 1995.
Technical Description of the Health and Retirement Study Sample Design.
Online version; originally published as HRS/AHEAD Documentation Report DR-002.
- Heeringa, Steven G. 1995.
Technical Description of the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) Study Sample Design.
Online version; originally published as HRS Documentation Report DR-003.
Additional Documentation Resources
- Getting Started with the Health and Retirement Study (July 2006).
- National Institute on Aging, Growing Old in America: The Heath and Retirement Study
(HRS Databook) (June 2007)
- Resources for Analysis of Family Data
