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Codebook [message #29405] Tue, 11 June 2024 22:44 Go to next message
Isaac Yah is currently offline  Isaac Yah
Messages: 8
Registered: May 2023
Member
I need the codebook for questions on the women file to understand why there are many missing values. I need that information to be able to adequately explain to my committee during oral defense of my dissertation. Additionally, I need to know why variables 2-6 on the prenatal care: doctor question all has missing data except question one? Lastly, could you advise if there are better prenatal care variable that I can use for my analysis?
Isaac
Re: Codebook [message #29407 is a reply to message #29405] Wed, 12 June 2024 07:46 Go to previous message
Bridgette-DHS is currently offline  Bridgette-DHS
Messages: 3203
Registered: February 2013
Senior Member

Following is a response from Senior DHS staff member, Tom Pullum:

In the data files, a dot (".") means that the variable (or question) is not applicable. For example, if there are questions about where, and from whom, and how often, prenatal care was received, but the woman has said she did not have any prenatal care visits, then those questions are not asked. They are NA (not applicable). If you go to the questionnaire you will see it has MANY skips and filters. Actually, DHS surveys generally have very low levels of missing data, in the sense of there being no response to a question that was indeed applicable.

I think the Guide to DHS Statistics ( https://www.dhsprogram.com/Data/Guide-to-DHS-Statistics/inde x.cfm) will answer most of your questions. If you are downloading data files from the website, you should see a codebook for each survey giving codes and marginal distributions. Let us know if you do not see that.
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