Hi, I am working with migrations in the sample census 2001 of Argentina. Is it possible that some variables that were included in the census are not in IPUMS? I am pretty sure that “year a migrant arrived in Argentina” and/or “how many years he/she has been in the country” was consulted, however I cannot find this variable in my harmonized IPUMS database. There is another variable that is “country of habitual residence”, which I do not find in IPUMS. These are quite important to work on migrations, I would like to know if they were excluded.
Thanks!
Yes, it is always possible that some variables that are included on a given census questionnaire are not included in IPUMS International. In most of these cases, such variables are suppressed by the national statistical agency for reasons relating to respondent confidentiality. This seems to be the case for the “year a migrant arrived in Argentina” and “years migrant has been in the country” variables. With that said, there are a number of “source variables” available under the migration category (see here). One of these variables is AR2001A_COUNP which identifies the country an individual habitually lives.
Hi Jeff, thanks for the clarification. Is it possible to match between individuals in the harmonised database and the source database on a link variable basis, such as “serial”? Because I am already working with the harmonized database, I should add the variable you mention and merge it into it.
Thanks!
The IPUMS International online data extract system makes it very easy to include both harmonized and source variables in the same dataset. There is no merging necessary if both variables are available in IPUMS International. Simply include both the desired harmonized variables and source variables in the same data extract.
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