In January 2007, each student in FSoS 5014, Introduction to Quantitative Family Research Methods, was asked to summarize and evaluate information about a secondary data set used in the family field. The following summary was prepared by Anna Thurmes.
The Panel Study of Income Dynamics, PSID, is a longitudinal study of approximately 8,000 U.S. families that began in 1968 and continues today. This includes over 63,000 individuals across 36 years of their life span. It examines men, women, and children within their family units and focuses on economic and demographic behavior variables. Additionally multiple other psychological and sociological measures that may contribute child health and development are examined. There have been over 34 waves of data collection using questionnaires to conduct interviews. Interviews have been done face-to-face, over the phone, and now are computer based. The website, www.psidonline.isr.umich.edu, provides a great depth and breadth of information such as an overview, answers to frequently asked questions, and details related to the project including funding, the sample, and so forth. There are many data files available through the Data Center on the website, but some must be obtained via the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The Data Center is fully automated and allows users to download and merge files.
This data set is useful to family researchers. As described by Hofferth (2005), this data set includes multiple persons within families, extends across generation and household boundaries, measures change over time, and exists in a geographic context, especially when files are merged from the Child Development Supplement. There is a great wealth of information within this data set and the website provides a lot of information. For this reason, it takes a significant amount of time to learn about it. Weaknesses of the data include an over sampling of individuals who are black in the 1970s. It is also complicating and will take some time to learn the data set, since it has such a long history. It’s longitudinal nature, nearly 40 years, gives it great strength. Numerous processes can be examined, such as intergenerational transmission of poverty. The sample is culturally diverse, representative of the U.S., with over 2,000 Latino households represented. The study continues to expand to include more variables such as those related to health.