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MP, SP or YP. Multicoded variables will also include an alphabetical suffix
(two characters) and this will always be found at the end of the variable name.
The only time this procedure is not followed is when it has been necessary to
create derived variables on the dataset. An example of this is where a ‘flag’
variable is derived when outliers have been edited for inclusion in a derived
variable. Normally the raw data is left unedited and the change is made during
the derivation of new variables. For example, in order to derive particular
income variables, such as gross annual salary, it was necessary to check
outliers and clean the data based on the assumptions made during these
checks. The flag variable is therefore provided for those interested in
specifically looking at the edited data and compare with the unedited data.
These variables do not use a wave prefix but start with the word ‘flag’.
A typical variable name is made up of the following characters:
[Prefix1] [Question name] [Suffix1].
A multicoded variable will use the following characters:
[Prefix1] [Question name] [Suffix1] [Suffix2]
Prefix1
Indicates the wave - ; W1= wave 1; W2 = wave 2 etc.
Question name
is directly comparable with the questionnaire. It is easy
to search for questions within your dataset as long as
you use the relevant wave prefix in front of the question
variable name.
Suffix1
Indicates who the question was asked of -; YP= the
Young Person, MP= the Main Parent and SP = the
Second Parent.
Suffix2
Indicates a multicoded variable which can range from
0a = answer 1 to (for example) aw = answer 49. 10
10
It is highly unlikely that a multicoded variable will use more than 70 categories but this suffix system
would allow for approximately 700 categories as the two characters of the suffix enable the multicoded
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