Archiving the Data from the First Wave of SHARE-Israel

Litwin, Howard

Abstract

SHARE-Israel is an HRS-inspired population-based household survey, the aim of which is to collect baseline data in several NIA priority areas, including retirement and economic status, cognition, care giving and the dynamics of health and functional change at older ages. Supported by NIA and by Israeli funding sources, the first wave of the survey was executed in 2005-2006, encompassing some 2600 individuals aged 50 and over in about 1750 households. SHARE-Israel was implemented in three parallel languages--Hebrew, Arabic and Russian--in order to access the diverse populations in Israel. The principal goal of the current proposal is to translate the potential of the SHARE-Israel data that have just been collected with support from NIA into a widely accessible resource for advanced study and analysis. Israeli society presents a unique set of conditions and characteristics that can yield new insight and understanding regarding the social dynamics of important aspects of health and population aging. We propose to carry out the next immediate step necessary for making the data accessible to the wider research community. It is our expectation that these efforts will facilitate utilization of this unique data set by researchers, and will, in turn, yield new understandings of the aging enterprise. To accomplish the goals of the application, we propose to perform four specific tasks: 1) To create a uniform codebook, translating the existing data from Hebrew, Arabic and Russian to full versions in Hebrew and English to facilitate Israeli based research and collaborations with English-speaking research partners. 2) To create a complete set of user-friendly documentation to facilitate the use of the data, including data definition files, technical documentation regarding sampling and weighting, and procedural information on interviewer training and the creation of the multilingual questionnaires. 3) To perform a full confidentiality review on the SHARE-Israel data so restricted material can be removed. 4) To create a library of public use files. Working with our collaborating partner, NACDA at the University of Michigan we will generate a set of user ready analysis files in SAS, SPSS and STATA along with searchable documentation in XML. These files will facilitate initial research by the investigators and simplify the creation of publicly accessible data files for secondary data users. The data to be archived in this project will allow analyses aimed to improve our understanding of the different paths to better health and well being in older age. The data address key economic and social factors that contribute to health among people 50 years of age and older, providing unique opportunities for cross-national comparisons. ? ? ? ?