Hilda News - 2006

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22 December 2006

Release 5.0

 The release of the Wave 5 data is expected in late January 2007.

There will be a few changes to the application/ordering process for this release. Firstly, all applications need to go through The Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) rather than to the Melbourne Institute. Those details will be on the new order form.

Secondly, all applicants for Release 5.0 will be required to compete a new Deed of Licence as there have been a few amendments to the current one. This will apply even if you have used any previous releases.

We anticipate that the new Deed of Licence will be finalised soon after the Christmas/New Year period.

We will inform all current users when the HILDA Release 5 order forms and Deeds of Licence are ready for download from our web site.

10 November 2006


Release 5.0

Preparation of data release 5.0, incorporating new data from Wave 5 (2005), is on track for an expected release date in late January 2007. We will inform all current users when the order form is ready for download from our web site.

Wave 6

Fieldwork for Wave 6 commenced in August 2006. The main feature of Wave 6 is the inclusion of questions designed to measure household net worth. This topic was previously included in Wave 2 and thus will provide data users with the first ever person-level measures of changes in household wealth in this country. Significant new content was also added to the self-completion questionnaire. Questions are being asked for the first time about height and weight, and there are numerous new questions designed to improve our understanding of social capital.

Wave 7

Development work has also commenced on the Wave 7 questionnaires, with skirmish testing of new content conducted in November. Proposed innovative features for Wave 7 include: repeat of the module on retirement and transitions to retirement previously included in Wave 3; extension of the existing short sequence of questions on work-related training; and new questions on literacy and numeracy, smoking history, diet, and methods of pay determination.

PanelWhiz

John Haisken DeNew, a HILDA data user, has created PanelWhiz, a collection of Stata/SE Add-On scripts to make using panel datasets, such as HILDA, easier. Among other features, it allows the user to select vectors of variables at once and the matching and merging is done automatically. The software is "charityware" and users are asked to donate $20 to UNICEF if they download the software.

HILDA Publications

The list of publications using the HILDA Survey continues to grow.

If you have a paper or publication which is not listed, please send us the details.

Following are just few examples of recent publications in 2006 using the HILDA Survey:

ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference

Three sessions of papers on, or using the HILDA Survey, feature on the program of the upcoming ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference being held at the University of Sydney on 10-13 December 2006.

2007 HILDA Survey Research Conference

Don't forget, we are now accepting submissions to the 2007 HILDA Survey Research Conference, being held in Melbourne on 19-20 July 2007.

Thanks to generous funding from FaCSIA we are able to cover the costs of travel, accommodation, registration, and the conference dinner for one person per paper accepted.

Cross-National Equivalence File (CNEF)

We are pleased to announce that the HILDA Survey is now part of the CNEF, which is managed out of Cornell University.

The Cross-National Equivalent File 1980-2004 contains equivalently defined variables for the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), the British Household Panel Study (BHPS), the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The data are designed to allow cross-national researchers not experienced in panel data analysis to access a simplified version of these panels, while providing experienced panel data users with guidelines for formulating equivalent variables across countries. Most importantly, the equivalent file provides a set of constructed variables that are not directly available on the original surveys.
 
You need to apply for each of the datasets within the CNEF separately.  To obtain the CNEF-HILDA dataset, you need to apply for permission from FaCSIA.  To initiate this process, please complete a HILDA-CNEF Deed of Licence and email to FaCSIA.

19 September 2006

The 2007 HILDA Survey Research Conference

The 2007 HILDA Survey Research Conference is being held on 19-20 July 2007, at the University of Melbourne. The aim of the conference is to provide a forum for the discussion of research based on the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. Attendance at the conference is open to all persons interested in the HILDA Survey and longitudinal survey research.

Submissions of papers are now being sought. Contributions towards the travel and accommodation costs of paper presenters will be available. As in past years we hope to be able to cover the cost of an economy airfare and two nights accommodation for all Australian-based presenters (but limited to one per paper). Conference registration fees will also be waived. Partial subsidies will also be available for a limited number of overseas-based speakers.

For the 2007 Conference there will be two submission streams: a refereed paper stream and a non-refereed paper stream. Selection of papers for the refereed stream will be on the basis of full papers while selection of papers for the non-refereed stream will be on the basis of abstracts. All papers, however, will have discussants at the Conference.

Competition for places is expected to be high, with priority being given to papers that exploit the longitudinal nature of the data. Papers on methods and cross-national comparisons are also welcome.

Submission deadline: 5th April 2007 (for both full papers and abstracts).

How to submit: Send your abstract or full paper by email

Submission Guidelines

Abstracts: Should be in the range of 200 to 400 words and should make clear what the purposes of the proposed paper are, how the HILDA data will be used and which data waves will be drawn on. Authors of selected abstracts will need to submit a complete paper by 29 June 2007.

Full papers: Papers need to be complete and should be in a format suitable for submission to an academic journal.

Registration Fees (inclusive of GST)

Early bird: $180  (before or by 1 June 2007)

Late: $240

Student rate: $110 (must register by Early bird date)

Further information

Further details about the 2007 HILDA Survey Conference will be posted on the HILDA web site.

The web site will be updated regularly in the lead up to the conference.

Enquiries about any aspect of the submission process or the Conference organisation should be directed to the HILDA Administrative Assistant by phone 03 8344 2108 or email [email protected].

22 May 2006

ACSPRI Conference - Travel Subsidies

I am pleased to announce that the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs has made some funds available to help offset the cost of travelling to Sydney in December to present a paper in the HILDA stream at the ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference. The level of subsidy will depend on how many papers are accepted, but we hope to be able to cover a discount airfare and up to three nights accommodation. Subsidies will be limited to one person for each paper included in the HILDA stream. Presenters will still be responsible for conference registration fees.

I remind potential paper presenters that we would like to receive all abstracts by June 2.

10 May 2006

ACSPRI Conference -- HILDA sessions

The purpose of this message is to remind HILDA data users about the possibility of presenting a paper at the ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference in December and to advise of some changes re the arrangements for the HILDA sessions.

Brief details about the Conference are provided below.

The initial call for papers indicated that papers contributed to the HILDA sessions would not be peer-reviewed. We have now revised this policy and will accept papers on both a peer-reviewed basis (which will be included in the conference proceedings and will be recognised by DEST as an academic output) and on a non-reviewed basis (more suitable for work-in-progress). This has led to a slight change in deadlines. The revised arrangements are as follows:

Call for papers for HILDA stream

We invite papers that examine different methodological issues that arise when using the panel survey data collected during the first four waves of the HILDA Survey. These papers might examine how the availability of the HILDA Survey data enables an interesting or important research issue to be addressed that otherwise could not have been tackled. Alternatively, papers might address interesting methodological problems that arise when using the HILDA Survey data.

Submission process

People interested in presenting a paper at this conference for inclusion in the HILDA sessions should email abstracts to Melanie Davern, HILDA Survey Analyst.

The submitted document should include:

Key Dates

- June 2: Deadline for submissions of abstracts.
- Oct 2: Final deadline for full papers for peer review.
- Oct 27: Final deadlines for receipt of all other papers.
- Nov 1: ‘early bird’ enrolments close.
- December 10-13 (Sunday afternoon through Wednesday morning): Conference

CONFERENCE SUMMARY DETAILS
ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference 2006
Venue: The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Dates: 10-13 December 2006
Host: The Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research, Inc. (ACSPRI)
Purpose: To provide a national forum focusing on current issues in social science methodology.
Website: www.conference2006.acspri.org.au

6 April 2006

New Statistical Report

On 11 April we are releasing Families, Incomes and Jobs: A Statistical Report of the HILDA Survey. This report provides a series of short articles summarising key findings from the first three waves of the HILDA Survey data. While not intended to be comprehensive (a virtually impossible task), it does report findings from all of the major areas covered by the HILDA Survey: households and family life; incomes and wealth; employment and unemployment; and well-being.

Wave 5 Response Rates

Collection of data from Wave 5 was completed earlier this year and I am pleased to announce that our preliminary estimate of the  proportion of Wave 4 respondents who were successfully interviewed in Wave 5 is 94.4%. The comparable rate in Wave 4 was 91.6%. We are delighted with this outcome, and believe it means our survey attrition rates are on a par with many other leading panel studies conducted elsewhere in the world. I would especially like to commend our fieldwork provider, ACNielsen, for a job very well done.

2007 HILDA Survey Research Conference

The next HILDA Survey Research Conference has been tentatively scheduled for 19-20 July 2007 and will again be held at the University of Melbourne. More details will follow later this year, but block out these dates in your diary now.

2006 ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference

A stream of papers built around the HILDA Survey is being organised for this conference to be held on 11-14 December at the University of Sydney. The call for papers is now out and follows:

We invite papers that examine different methodological issues that arise when using the panel survey data collected during the first four waves of the HILDA Survey. These papers might examine how the availability of the HILDA Survey data enables an interesting or important research issue to be addressed that otherwise could not have been tackled. Alternatively, papers might address interesting methodological problems that arise when using the HILDA Survey data.

Papers will be largely selected on the basis of abstracts, which need to be received by June 2 and should be sent to Melanie Davern, HILDA Survey Analyst.

Full papers for those selected will need to be received by October 27.

Financial assistance may be available for presenters to help with travel and accommodation costs, but that is still to be confirmed.

New Staff Member

I am pleased to announce that Ms Philippa Gainsford has been appointed as the new HILDA Survey Administrative Assistant. She takes over from Duane Barron, who left us late last year. Philippa processes all data applications and so will be the first point of contact with the HILDA Survey for most new users. Philippa is also the person to whom you should send details about any publications that make use of the HILDA data.

3 March 2006

We are contemplating registering interest in organising two sessions for the ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference, 11-14th December, 2006 University of Sydney.

Our proposal is to organise one session around the HILDA Project team -- papers would be presented about the survey design and evolution, income imputation, construction of weights. We then propose organising another session around contributions from HILDA data users. Whether we go ahead, however, will depend on the level of interest from data users.

Obviously, for this particular conference we are interested in papers that emphasise the methodological strengths and advantages from the use of the HILDA data. Note also that we are not offering any assistance with the costs of registering and attending the conference.

20 January 2006

A vacancy exists within the HILDA team for a HILDA Administrative Assistant, the full position description is available from the Melbourne Institute website.

16 January 2006

The HILDA data wave 4 was released to researchers from January 16 2006. Waves 1 to 3 were also re-released, as is customary, at the same time.

For information on ordering the data, please see the following website.

If you have any further questions, please contact Michelle Best (email: [email protected], phone: 03 8344 2196).