# Who is the respondent in ATUS?

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/who-is-the-respondent-in-atus/877>\
**Category:** TIME USE\
**Created:** [April 28, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/who-is-the-respondent-in-atus/877 "2015-04-28T21:05:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![msaharkh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@msaharkh](https://forum.ipums.org/u/msaharkh)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/who-is-the-respondent-in-atus/877/1 "2015-04-28T21:05:00Z")

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I want to know who in the household took the ATUS. I searched the variables available but I couldn’t find anything related to what I want. There is a variable named [RELATE](https://www.atusdata.org/atus-action/variables/RELATE) which shows the relationship of family members to ATUS respondent but it doesn’t say who the respondent was. Based on RELATE and SEX of the respondent I can guess who took the survey but I was wondering if there is an easier way to this.

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**Author:** ![Tim\_Moreland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@Tim\_Moreland](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Tim_Moreland)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/who-is-the-respondent-in-atus/877/2 "2015-05-05T21:42:00Z")

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The only additional variable that may be of assistance is [RELATE\_CPS8](https://www.atusdata.org/atus-action/variables/RELATE_CPS8#codes_section), which uses the head of household as the reference person instead of the ATUS respondent. This variable was collected during the CPS survey, which occurs 2-5 months prior to the ATUS interview. As a result, the household structure could have changed within the elapsed time. It is up to the researcher to determine if this lag time between variables is acceptable.

Hope this helps.