# Referring to your answer about merging IPUMS to raw March 2011 CPS data - problem identified

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/referring-to-your-answer-about-merging-ipums-to-raw-march-2011-cps-data-problem-identified/559>\
**Category:** CPS\
**Created:** [June 17, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/referring-to-your-answer-about-merging-ipums-to-raw-march-2011-cps-data-problem-identified/559 "2014-06-17T17:29:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pketsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pketsche](https://forum.ipums.org/u/pketsche)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/referring-to-your-answer-about-merging-ipums-to-raw-march-2011-cps-data-problem-identified/559/1 "2014-06-17T17:29:00Z")

</div>

Relying on your answer to the questions referenced above, I have attempted to merge IPUMS variables relating to the HIU to the CPS data (not NBER version - variable names as specified by Census) after sorting by serial number and person number (IPUMS) and HSEQ and PPPOS (CPS). I used the person weight to validate the merge and found that the match does not work correctly, starting with HSEQ=350 (record number 479).

Since the sum of the weights and the total number of records in the two files matches, the sort to assign serial numbers in the NBER/ IPUMS file must be on a variable other than HSEQ.

Given that I can’t merge the data, is there a data dictionary that can explain the code you provide for creating the HIUD variable by mapping the IPUMS variables to the code book for CPS? Thank you in advance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![grover](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/grover/32/5_2.png) [@grover](https://forum.ipums.org/u/grover)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/referring-to-your-answer-about-merging-ipums-to-raw-march-2011-cps-data-problem-identified/559/2 "2014-06-17T20:28:00Z")

</div>

In the question you reference, when I say that the two files share a sort order, I mean that when you first download the files, the records are in the same order. Sorting the records according to h\_seq and pppos disrupts the original sort order, making the two files no longer congruent. When I sort the data as you suggest, I see many mismatched records. However, if I perform the sequential merge without sorting the records all match.

I hope this helps.