1. The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Data & Documentation 2008 Jibby Medina NatCen

2. Content ELSA data sets – in archive Questionnaires Variable listings Field documents User Guides Life History ELSA data sets – not archived Administrative Data

3. Data available

4. ELSA data in archive (1) Index file for linking (including mortality data) All eligible ELSA respondents & all HH members (HSE) Serial No, outcomes & basic data Wave 0 HSE waves 1998, 1999 & 2001 Common variables across 1998, 1999 & 2001

5. ELSA data in archive (2) Waves 1 – 3 Core variables and financial derived variables Training dataset Wave 2 nurse data FileWave 0Wave 1Wave 2Wave 3Wave 4 Core Data TBA Nurse Data N/A N/A TBA Index File Updates TBA Life History DataN/A TBA N/A Ryff Self Completion DataN/A N/A Telephone Interview (with non -responders) Data N/A TBA End of Life Interview DataN/A TBA Financial Derived VariablesN/A TBA Pension Wealth Derived Variables N/A N/A Pension GridN/A TBA Mortgage DataN/A N/A Mortgage GridN/A TBA Technical ReportN/A 5 TBA

6. ELSA documentation (1) Questionnaire : Complete questionnaires – W1, W2 & W3 Future developments: Flowcharts of questionnaire Interactive documentation – also HRS and SHARE

7. ELSA documentation (2) - Variable listing

8. ELSA documentation (3) Field documents: Main & nurse survey documents Coding & editing instructions User guides for datasets

9. ELSA documentation (4) – User guides for data sets Sample Design and Fieldwork - Original & Refreshment Dataset Information: Serial NumberingMulti-Coded and Dichotomous Variables Interview OutcomeSurvey Module Identifiers Age & GenderDropped Variables (disclosive) Missing ValuesProxy or Institution respondents Weighting - Longitudinal weight & Cross-sectional weight Additional - Additional Variables & Files Deposited at UK Data Archive Notes About Particular Variables Variables With a Different Name or Label (at this wave)

10. Life History Interview

11. Life History Interview Follow up interview at Wave 3 We know little about ELSA respondents before their HSE interview (i.e. before 1998) Asks about childhood and important life events Aim to enhance our understanding of how early life and events throughout life impact upon circumstances of older people Calendar technique to enhance recall

12. Topics covered Children & fertility Partners Where lived Work history Health Relationship with parents as a child Other important life events

13. Data not archived

14. Other data available (not archived) Wave 2 genetics data Geography (Waves 0, 1, 2 & 3) Government office region Local authority Population density Urban/rural indicator Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) Other non-archived variables (e.g. Cause of death)

15. Administrative data DWP & HMRC administrative data National insurance contributions Benefit records Tax credit records Added at Wave 3: tax records, savings and pensions Request access from NatCen data manager

16. Administrative data Additional health data Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) Cancer register To be matched soon Approx 80% of respondents consented to HES and DWP/HMRC data linkage

17. ELSA Reports

18. Where to get more info ELSA website http://www.ifs.org.uk/elsa Data and associated documentation http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/ ELSA data manager (Susan Nunn) s.nunn@natcen.ac.uk ELSA lead researcher (Kate Cox) k.cox@natcen.ac.uk

19. The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Thank you