MCS useful notes
This page contains a selection of the MCS queries sent to the ESDS Longitudinal help desk which may be useful to
other users. Each query has been anonymised and some have been edited.
If you have any useful information about an MCS dataset which you think others may benefit from reading, please
contact the ESDS Longitudinal help
desk and it will be considered for inclusion. If your text is only rough, we will check it and tidy up wording as
needed.
These notes cover MCS generally. Further information is available from the study documentation associated with the individual MCS datasets.
Interview outcome related questions
Weighting related questions
Multi-wave data related questions
Geographical location related questions
Health/health behaviour related questions
Q - What does issued mean? (March 2008)
A - 'Issued' refers to those respondents still in scope - and who have not dropped out of the study at any earlier
point - whose details were passed to the fieldwork team in order to obtain a survey interview.
Q - I have applied the MCS weight variables in SPSS and receive a message that says ‘On at least one case, the value of the weight variable was zero, negative, or missing’, and this is adversely affecting results. Why is this? (May 2009)
A - Note that the weighting section (page 78) in the MCS Guide to the Datasets document recommends analysis in Stata because SPSS is not currently able to weight the data using the survey design factors. If you have queries over weighting you should use the Stata version if possible.
Q - I have agreed to special conditions which say 'I agree not to link between the research identifiers supplied by ESDS [MCSID] and any other identifiers previously issued.' Does this mean I cannot link this dataset to the previous MCS waves? (May 2010)
A - No, you can still link to previous waves but you need to be aware that a new linking variable was created in Spring 2008 (MCSID) to replace the previous identifier (FAMSRNO). All earlier datasets that contained the old identifier were replaced with new editions that now contain the new variable. Therefore, you should download the latest editions of earlier waves to ensure that you can continue to link the latest sweep with preceding years of the survey. Further information is available from the CLS Confidentiality and Security Review Document.
Q - I cannot find the anonymised hospital variable in MCS 2001-2003: Birth Registration and Maternity Hospital Episode Data . According to the Millennium Cohort Study: MCS Hospital of Birth Coding document there should be a variable ‘hcodeann’. Where is it? (March 2009)
A - The ‘hcodeann’ variable is in the file entitled 'hospanon_ns'.
Q - Were the scales and questionnaires used to assess cognitive development of children in sweep 2 and 3 of the Millennium Cohort Study, translated for ethnic minority respondents? If so, are they available? (July 2009)
A - Yes, translations were used by the fieldwork agency where appropriate but owing to the cost of translating such a lengthy questionnaire, only some Welsh language materials were formally translated. This is outlined on page 32 of the Technical Report on Fieldwork.
Q - The variable ‘AHBAGE00’ is labelled ‘baby’s age in months’ but the values seem very high. How should I interpret this variable? (January 2010)
A - The variable has been wrongly labelled and shows age in days.
Q - How can I calculate respondents’ scores on the Kessler 6 scale with Sweep 2 of the MCS? (September 2008)
A - The MCS2 User's Guide for Initial Findings states that the relevant answers can be found in the responses to 6 questions:
"Psychological distress
This was measured using the Kessler 6 scale, widely used in general-purpose health surveys. Both main and partner respondents used a computerised self-completion form. The six questions ask how often in the past 30 days the respondent had felt i) ‘so depressed that nothing could cheer you up’ ii) ‘hopeless’ iii) ‘restless or fidgety’ iv) ‘that everything you did was an effort’ v) ‘worthless’ vi) ‘nervous’. For each question respondents score four points if they answer ‘all of the time’, three points for ‘most of the time’, two points for ‘some of the time’, one point for ‘a little of the time’ and zero for ‘none of the time’. The questions form a 24-point scale and the following cut-offs were used: 0-3 ‘No or low distress’, 4-12 ‘medium’, and 13 or over ‘high’. " (page 138 of the User's Guide).
The relevant variables 'bpphde00, bpphho00, bpphrf00, bpphee00, bpphwo00, bpphne00' are in the parent interview file.
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