# GQTYPE VS. HHINTYPE

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/gqtype-vs-hhintype/1467>\
**Category:** CPS\
**Created:** [October 28, 2016, 7:51am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/gqtype-vs-hhintype/1467 "2016-10-28T07:51:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cassie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Cassie](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Cassie)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 7:51am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/gqtype-vs-hhintype/1467/1 "2016-10-28T07:51:00Z")

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what’s the difference between these two variables:

GQTYPE= “Household type”

HHINTYPE= “Type of household”

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**Author:** ![JeffBloem](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/jeffbloem/32/40_2.png) [@JeffBloem](https://forum.ipums.org/u/JeffBloem)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/gqtype-vs-hhintype/1467/2 "2016-10-28T16:25:00Z")

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[HHINTYPE](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/HHINTYPE#description_section) is a variable that indicates whether members of the household were interviewed, and if not, why no interview took place. [GQTYPE](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/GQTYPE#codes_section) provides a way to achieve [comparability between the IPUMS-USA data and the IPUMS-CPS](https://cps.ipums.org/cps/sample_designs.shtml) data by indicating the type of group quarters a person resided. Although each variable may seem similar in the basic description, they are actually use very different coding schemes, see the ‘codes tab’ on each variable description for more details.