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Re: Weights for Couple Data NFHS3 [message #9173 is a reply to message #9119]

Thu, 18 February 2016 08:45

Bridgette-DHS
Messages: 3230
Registered: February 2013

Senior Member

Following is a response from Senior DHS Stata Specialist, Tom Pullum:

It is standard practice at DHS to use the husband's weight (mv005) when analyzing the CR files. The husband's weight is preferred rather than the wife's weight because response rates are usually worse for men than for women, so the inclusion of the couple in the sample depends more on getting the husband than on getting the wife.

More complicated calculations of couple weights have been proposed, for example by Professor Stan Becker at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Although theoretically superior, the effect of using these alternatives is small. I recommend just using the husband's weight, as I said.

If you include the national level weights, the national estimates will be unbiased. The state estimates will also be unbiased. The state estimates depend on fewer cases and therefore have larger standard errors and wider confidence intervals, but comparisons across states will be valid.

I do not recommend ever using unweighted estimates, except for data quality checks. Unweighted estimates are biased toward the over-sampled strata and away from the under-sampled strata. Statistical inferences should also include adjustments for clustering and stratification.

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[Message index]

		Weights for Couple Data NFHS3 By: Isha on Fri, 12 February 2016 11:53
		Re: Weights for Couple Data NFHS3 By: Bridgette-DHS on Thu, 18 February 2016 08:45
		Re: Weights for Couple Data NFHS3 By: Isha on Sun, 28 February 2016 12:15

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