What if the IPUMS-International samples are too big for me to handle?
It is possible to make samples that are extremely large. Extracts over a certain size will not be allowed by our server. If you have a legitimate reason to make extremely large extracts, email us to request a higher threshold.
Roughly speaking, the number of records times the number of columns of data requested yields the file size of your extract in bytes. The number or records in each sample is given on the samples page. Among the current samples, the modern U.S., Brazil, China, France, Mexico, Pakistan, and Vietnam datasets are particularly large.
The “extract request” screen predicts the size of your data file. If it is too large for your purposes, there are several things you can do.
- Select fewer variables and/or samples.
>2) Use the “Select cases” feature on the extract page to include only the particular kinds of people or households you want to include in your data. (Note: the estimated file size does not include case selection in its calculation, so this number will not change.)
- Use the “Customize sample sizes” feature to draw smaller subsets of some or all of the samples in your extract. Entering numbers in any of the cells in the right half of the screen will tell the system to systematically extract the corresponding number of households from the selected sample(s). The households will be drawn evenly from across the entire country, and the sample weights in the data will be adjusted appropriately.