Understanding Society data can be compared with data from other household panel studies from across the world. Researchers comparing international data can use CNEF or CPF files to find compariable variable across surveys.
Cross National Equivalent File (CNEF)
The Cross National Equivalent File (CNEF) is prepared by the Department of Human Sciences at the Ohio State University and contains the equivalently defined variables for Understanding Society, the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA), the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) (new this year), the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) (new this year), the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
These cross national data are designed to allow cross national researchers not experienced in panel data analysis to access a simplified version of these panels, while providing experienced panel data users with guidelines for formulating equivalent variables across countries. Most importantly, the equivalent file provides a set of constructed variables (for example pre- and post-government income and United States and international household equivalence weights) that are not directly available on the original surveys.
Researchers can apply for CNEF files via the CNEF website. You can read more about the access procedure here.
Comparative Panel File (CPF)
The Comparative Panel File is an open science project to harmonise the world’s major and longest-running household panel studies from seven countries: Australia (HILDA), Germany (SOEP), UK (BHPS and UKHLS), Korea (KLIPS), Russia (RLMS), Switzerland (SHP), the United States (PSID). CPF provides an open-source code to construct a comparative dataset based on original data from the household panel surveys. The code can be further modified and extended. The multilevel panel data covering long periods and several general population surveys allows the analysing of individual trajectories, time trends, contextual effects and country differences.
You can download the CPF files and documentation onthe CPF website.