Chitwan Valley [Nepal] Family Study: Changing Social Contexts and Family Formation, Nepal, 1995-2017 (ICPSR 4538)
I. Introduction
About the Guide
This Data Guide is an overview of the Chitwan Valley Family Study: Changing Social Contexts and Family Formation, Nepal, 1995-2017 (ICPSR 4538) and provides specific instructions for obtaining the related Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS) datasets, which you can download to your own computer from DSDR at ICPSR. CVFS users should also refer to the Chitwan Valley Family Study website, which provides greater detail on the topics discussed below.
This Data Guide is also available for download from Chitwan Valley Family Study: Changing Social Contexts and Family Formation, Nepal, 1995-2017 (ICPSR 4538) study homepage under the “Data & Documentation” tab as a DS0 study-level file.
About the Data
The Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS) is a comprehensive family panel study of individuals, families, and communities in the Chitwan Valley of Nepal.
Two studies make up the CVFS series:
The Changing Social Contexts and Family Formation, Nepal, 1995-2017 study (ICPSR 4538) was initially designed to investigate the influence of changing community and household contexts on population outcomes such as marital and childbearing processes. Over time the goals of the study expanded to investigate family dynamics, intergenerational influences, child health, migration, labor force participation, attitudes and beliefs, mental health, agricultural production, environmental change, and many other topics. The data include full life histories for more than 10,000 individuals, tracking and interviews with all migrants, continuous measurement of community change, over 25 years of demographic event registry, and many other data collections.
For more information about what type of data are available and how the data were collected, please see the Chitwan Valley Family Study website.
- The Labour Outmigration, Agricultural Productivity and Food Security study (ICPSR 36755) was a three-year project with the aim to investigate the consequences of labor outmigration on agricultural productivity in a poor agricultural country persistently facing food security problems. This project's data collection is made up of twenty-five datasets (23 Public-Use, 2 Restricted-Use). Please see the study homepage for more information or consult the data guide available for this study.
The CVFS is supported by multiple grants from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and National Institute of Mental Health. Department for International Development (UK), Economic and Social Research Council (UK). National Science Foundation. Additional information about the CVFS project is available on the Chitwan Valley Family Study website.
II. Initial Sample
Multistage, stratified, clustered sampling design to represent the general population of the western Chitwan Valley in south central Nepal in 1995. In 2008 and 2016, the CVFS sample was refreshed to insure representation of the population of Chitwan.
III. Data Elements
The CVFS data are available in two forms—public-use and restricted-use (files listed in Table 1). To read a detailed description of each instrument (including the original and English translations) and the data associated with it, please see the community-level, household-level, and individual-level data pages on the CVFS website. Each dataset has a related codebook that contains the ICPSR codebook, the instruments used to collect the data, and the original codebook (available here). For information on data not yet archived at ICPSR, please contact the CVFS.
Table 1. List of Available Public-Use and Restricted Data Files [1]
| Part Number | File Name | Date of Data Collection |
|---|---|---|
| DS1 | Baseline Agriculture Data, Public-Use | 1996 |
| DS2 | Baseline Agriculture Data, Restricted-Use | 1996 |
| DS3 | Individual-Level Household Census Data, Public-Use | 1996 |
| DS4 | Individual-Level Household Census Data, Restricted-Use | 1996 |
| DS5 | Child-Level Data | 1996 |
| DS6 | Family Planning Data, Public-Use | Began in 1997 |
| DS7[2] | Family Planning Data, Restricted-Use | Began in 1997 |
| DS8 | Healthpost History Data, Restricted-Use | 1995 |
| DS9 | Household Registry Data, Public-Use | Began in 1997 |
| DS10 | Household Registry Data, Restricted-Use | Began in 1997 |
| DS11 | Individual Interview Data, Public-Use | 1996 |
| DS12 | Individual Interview Data, Restricted-Use | 1996 |
| DS13 | Individual Life History Calendar Data, Public-Use | 1996 |
| DS14 | Neighborhood History Data, Restricted-Use | 1995 |
| DS15[2],[3] | Household Relationship Grid, Public-Use | 1996 |
| DS16[2],[3] | Household Relationship Grid, Restricted-Use | 1996 |
| DS17 | School History Data, Restricted-Use | 1995 |
| DS18[2],[3] | Time 2 Agriculture and Consumption Data, Restricted-Use | 2001 |
| DS19 | Time 3 Agriculture and Consumption Data, Restricted-Use | 2006 |
| DS20 | Time 1-3 Land Use Data, Restricted-Use | 1996, 2000, 2006 |
| DS21 | Time 3 Household Registry Away Data Months 1-36, Restricted-Use | Began in 1997 |
| DS22 | Time 2 Neighborhood History Data, Restricted-Use | 2004 |
| DS23 | Time 2 School History Data, Restricted-Use | 2006 |
| DS24 | Time 2 Health Post History Data, Restricted-Use | 2005 |
| DS25 | Household Registry Data at 126 Months, Public-Use | 2015 |
| DS26 | Household Registry Data at 126 Months, Restricted-Use | Began in 1997 |
| DS27 | Time 2 Individual Interview Data, Restricted-Use | 2008 |
| DS28 | Time 2 Individual Life History Calendar Data, Restricted Use | 2008 |
| DS29[3] | 1996 and 2008 Panel Data Combination, Restricted-Use | 1996, 2008 |
| DS30[4] | Time 1, 2, and 3 Flora Survey Data, Restricted-Use | 1996, 1999, 2006 |
| DS31[5] | Neighborhood Distances File, Restricted-Use | 1996 |
| DS32[2] | Community Forest Calendar Data, Restricted-Use | 2009 |
| DS33[2] | Household Registry Data at 240 Months, Restricted-Use | 2017, began in 1997 |
| DS34[2] | Time 2 Agriculture and Consumption Data, Public-Use | 2001 |
| DS35[2] | Time 3 Agriculture and Consumption Data, Public-Use | 2006 |
| DS36[2] | Time 1,2, and 3 Neighborhood History Data, Restricted-Use | 1995, 2004, 2015 |
| DS37[2] | Individual Interview Data and Household Registry Data at 240 Months, Restricted-Use | 1996, began in 1997 |
| DS38[2] | Time 2 Individual Interview Data (Full Sample), Public-Use | 2008 |
| DS39[2] | Time 2 Individual Interview Data (Full Sample), Restricted-Use | 2008 |
| DS40[2] | Time 2 Individual Interview Data (Full Sample) and Household Registry Data at 240 Months, Restricted-Use | 2017, began in 1997 |
| DS41[2] | Individual Interview Data and Time 2 Individual Interview Data (Full Sample), Restricted-Use | 1996, 2008 |
IV. Variables
For information on the data available in each category, please see the community-level, household-level, and individual-level data pages on the CVFS website. Variables in the Chitwan Valley Family Study data can be searched and compared directly from the DSDR CVFS study home page.
Table 2. Types of Community, Household and Individual-Level Variables Available by Dataset
| Category | Dataset [DS] Numbers | Instrument(s) | Types of Variables ([R]=restricted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community-Level Data | |||
| Neighborhood History Data | DS14, DS22, DS36 | neighborhood history calendar | DS14: [R] Access to electricity, schools, health services, bus services, grain mills, agricultural cooperatives, dairies, markets, banks, employment opportunities, small farmers’ development programs, women’s groups, youth groups, temples, and police stations in each neighborhood
DS22: [R] Time 2 with same measures as Neighborhood History Time 1 (DS14) plus accessibility of: agrovet services, movie theaters, video shops, cable, telephone services, internet and e-mail, postal and exdel services, computer training, language training, saw mills, poultry farms, concrete block factories, bike maintenance services, motor bike and motor maintenance services, proximity of tourist hotels, and access to temples, monasteries, mosques, and churches DS36: [R] Combined file with Neighborhood History data from Times 1,2, and 3 |
| School History Data | DS17, DS23 | school history calendar, school records, interviews with school administrators, and interviews with teachers | DS17: [R] History of all schools including: location, date school opened and description of how it opened, public or private status, highest and lowest grades of instruction offered, number of classrooms, number of teachers, number of female teachers, number of students, tuition and fees for grades 1 and 10, type of general curriculum, language of instruction, inclusion of family planning in curriculum, number of female students in hostel, number of teachers with bachelor’s degree or higher
DS23: [R] Same measures as School History Time 1 (DS17) plus: whether school has pre-primary classes, number of students and number of female students in pre-primary class, whether school has day care, number of pre-primary instructors; number of indigenous and female indigenous students; number of low caste Hindu and low caste Hindu female students enrolled, number of students eligible to take and number who pass the SLC exam; whether school has morning assembly, computer education, health classes, and population and environment classes; number of administrative staff; whether building is permanent or temporary; number of classrooms; number of offices; number of library rooms |
| Healthpost History Data | DS8, DS24 | health service history calendar, records of each health service, interviews with managers, and interviews with workers | DS8: [R] History of all health services including: years operation, days of service per week, hours of service per day, number of staff, number of rooms and related facilities, contraceptive methods available, costs of contraceptive methods, association with mobile sterilization camps, other family planning programs/services offered, maternal and child health programs/services offered
DS24: [R] Same measures as Health Post History Time 1 (DS8) plus: more detailed information about patient exam services available each day, number of ambulances and health checkup rooms, more detailed information about staff; and more detailed information about the types of services offered |
| Land Use Survey | DS20 | neighborhood mapping and land use survey form | [R] Area within neighborhood of common land, multiple types of agricultural land, and other land uses (e.g. household residences, schools, temples, mills, roads, and waterways) |
| Flora Survey Data | DS30 | traditional mapping and survey techniques; flora sample surveys from forest and common land plots; flora manuals and weed identification methods developed by Dr. Dharma Dangol of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (Dangol 1994); Braun Blanquat scale; biodiversity | [R] Plot type, plot location, plant density, species richness, biodiversity |
| Neighborhood Distances | DS31 | neighborhood mapping and land use survey form | [R] Distance in meters from the south-western-most corner of each neighborhood to the closest school, healthpost, urban center, forest plot, and bus route |
| Community Forest | DS32 | community forest survey and community activities history calendar | [R] Location, area, and perimeter of community forest areas, forest management systems, human effects on flora species diversity, history of community forest including: establishment history, conservation programs, income, expenditure, resource use patterns, benefit sharing and challenges of conserving the community forest |
| Household-Level Data | |||
| Agriculture and Consumption Survey | DS1, DS2, DS18, DS19, DS34, DS35 |
household agriculture and consumption survey | DS1: Household farming, livestock, household possessions, household members living away from home, perceptions of environmental change, insects, pests, diseases, and housing quality
DS2: [R] Same measures as DS1 DS18: [R] Same measures as Baseline Agriculture Data (DS1 and DS2) plus: information about income, assets, and consumption DS19: [R] Same measures as Agriculture and Consumption Data Time 2 (DS18) plus: new measures of exit from farming and resource use DS34: Public-use version of DS18 DS35: Public-use version of DS19 |
| Individual-Level Data | |||
| Household Census | DS3, DS4 | household-level survey | DS3: For each member of the household, the following information was collected: age, gender, marital status, and residence status (lived in the household in the last 6 months or not), where individual lives now and when individual left (if not currently in household)
DS4: [R] Same measures as DS3 |
| Household Relationship Grid | DS15, DS16 | family relations grid | DS15: For each member of the household, information was collected about their relationships to every other household member (parent, child, sibling, spouse, or other)
DS16: [R] Same measures as DS15 |
| Individual Interview Data | DS11, DS12, DS27, DS38, DS39, DS41 | survey | DS11: 1996 Individual Interview – Includes information about respondents’ communities of childhood residence, non-family experiences, religion and religiosity, marital and family relationships, social networks, and a broad array of attitudes toward marriage, contraception, and childbearing
DS12: [R] Same measures as DS11 DS27: [R] Time 2 (2008) data - Content included in the Time 1 (1996) individual interview (DS11) plus new ideational measures assessing values and beliefs about societal attributes, modern family life, family change, freedom and equality, and Inglehart’s measures of traditional/secular-rational and survival/self-expression values, and Schwartz’s measures of value orientations DS38: Time 2 (2008) Individual Interview Data (Full Sample) – Includes all 24 eligible sample categories DS39: [R] Same measures as DS38 DS41: [R] Time 1 (1996) and Time 2 (2008) Individual Interview Data (Full Sample) |
| Individual Life History Calendar Data | DS13, DS28 | life history calendar | DS13: 1996 Individual Life History Calendar Data – Includes information about respondents’ residence (migration), marital events, childbearing, contraceptive use, living arrangements, travel, education, and employment since birth
DS28: [R] Time 2 (2008) Individual Life History Calendar Data – Includes both recontacts from T1 (DS13) and new contacts who were not interviewed during T1 |
| Child-level Data | DS5 | survey | Administered during the 1996 Individual Interview. For each child the woman had ever had the following information was collected: for living children, information about schooling, school dropout, expectation about their educational achievement, and breast feeding. For a deceased child, information was collected about length of survival and whether the child was seen by a doctor before death |
| Individual Interview and Household Registry Data | DS37, DS40 | survey | DS37: [R] Combined file of Time 1 (1996) restricted-use Individual Interview data and Household Registry data from 240 months (DS12 and DS33)
DS40: [R] Combined file of Time 2 (2008) restricted-use Individual Interview data and Household Registry data from 240 months (DS39 and DS33) |
| 1996-2008 Panel Data | DS29 | survey | [R] All content included in the Time 1 Interview (1996) and T2 Interview (2008) |
| Household Registry | DS9, DS10, DS25, DS26, DS33 |
monthly demographic event registry | DS9: Monthly information from the restricted-use data (DS10) was collapsed into 18 quarters of 3 months each.
DS10: [R] Information for months 1-54 about each resident’s age, gender, ethnicity, living arrangement (living in household or away from household), place of residence (which district), marital status, and pregnancy status (females only) DS25: Monthly information from the restricted-use data (DS26) was collapsed into 42 quarters of 3 months each. DS26: [R] Information for months 1-126 about each resident’s age, gender, ethnicity, living arrangement (living in household or away from household), place of residence (which district), marital status, and pregnancy status (females only) DS33: [R] Household Registry Data at 240 Months – Same measures as DS9 and DS10 but also includes education, school ID, current detailed location, migration location, household type. |
| Family Planning Data | DS6, DS7 | monthly contraceptive use registry | DS6: Monthly information from the restricted-use data was collapsed into 18 quarters of 3 months each with information about family planning methods used/not used during that period
DS7: [R] Monthly information about family planning methods used/not used |
| Household Registry Away Data | DS21 | survey | [R] Monthly information about household members living away from the home including away person’s place of residence, reason for leaving the house, whether the person sends any remittances, ethnicity, gender, and age |
V. Merging Data Files
For more information about linking data files, please see the webinar “Linking Data within the CVFS and Beyond” on the Chitwan Valley Family Study website.
VI. How to Obtain Data and Documentation Files
Accessing Data and Documentation from DSDR
Public-use and restricted-use data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study: Changing Social Contexts and Family Formation, Nepal, 1995-2017 (ICPSR 4538) are made available through DSDR, a data archive within ICPSR. All public-use data files are also available for online analysis.
Public-use
Researchers interested in downloading analysis-ready public-use data and documentation files can do so free of charge through the DSDR website. Data are available in four statistical package formats: SAS, SPSS, STATA, and R[6]. Raw ASCII data are provided with accompanying setup (syntax) files. Data are also available in Delimited[7] format. Documentation is provided in PDF format.
CVFS public-use data files are often altered to minimize disclosure risk. This can include removing variables, scrambling id variables, top- or bottom-coding variables, and/or collapsing variables or response options. These alterations sometimes limit the analytic potential of the data.
To download the CVFS public-use data and/or documentation, researchers must agree to the Terms of Use. To download all public-use files, select the Download drop-down menu from the middle right-hand side of the study homepage. Choose the file format you would like. If interested in the setup (syntax) files, the datasets must be downloaded individually as ASCII + Stata/SAS/SPSS Setup.
Restricted-use
Researchers interested in accessing analysis-ready restricted-use data and documentation files can do so free of charge through the DSDR website. Data are available in four statistical package formats: SAS, SPSS, STATA, and R. Data are also available in ASCII and Delimited formats for some, but not all, of the datasets. Documentation is provided in PDF format.
Restricted-use files can include details that were removed or masked in public-use files, providing greater analytic potential, but requiring stricter legal and electronic requirements for data use.
To access the CVFS restricted-use data and/or documentation, researchers must agree to the Restricted Data Use Agreement. To apply for access to all CVFS restricted-use files, select the Access Restricted Data button from the middle right-hand side of the study homepage. The data are available through secure dissemination (download) or the Virtual Data Enclave (VDE). Fill out and submit the application and required materials to DSDR as instructed.
Online Analysis
Online analysis is available for the public-use datasets within the study. Please sign into your free Researcher Passport account (or create one) to use this function.
Selecting the “Analyze Online” button (with the line graph icon) will open a new window and allow you to select a dataset to work with. Once selected, researchers will be asked to agree to the Terms of Use.
Click the “Analysis” tab at the toolbar at the top of the main SDA screen, and select a program. Run frequency or crosstabulation is the default program. Other options include comparison of means, correlation matrix, comparison of correlations, multiple regression, and list values of individual cases. In addition to selecting variables from the original dataset, it is also possible to recode or compute new variables and select a subset of variables for download.
More information about using online analysis is available on the DSDR and Chitwan Valley Family Study websites.
First Steps toward Obtaining and Working with CVFS Analytic Files
Before downloading the data or beginning analysis, it is important to become familiar with the study by visiting the Chitwan Valley Family Study website; this will help orient the user to the study and answer many questions that may come up regarding the data.
VII. Learn More
Additional Resources
- Chitwan Valley Family Study Website
- Chitwan Valley Family Study Publications Database
- Chitwan Valley Family Study Overview
- Chitwan Valley Family Study Brochure
- ICPSR Abbreviated Bibliography of Chitwan Valley Family Study-based Publications
- Questions regarding the Chitwan Valley Family Study project? Contact CVFS.
- Questions regarding this Data Guide or CVFS data files? Contact DSDR.
Acknowledgements
This Data Guide was prepared by Sara C. Britt, Kelly Ogden-Schuette, and Sarah Rush using Chitwan Valley Family Study documentation created by CVFS project staff from the University of Michigan and ICPSR in conjunction with CVFS project staff. It was developed for the Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR), a project supported by the Population Dynamics Branch (PDB) of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. DSDR is housed within the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).
[1] The Chitwan Valley Family Study: Changing Social Contexts and Family Formation, Nepal, 1995-2017 (ICPSR 4538) data collection combines new data with two previously released datasets: CHITWAN VALLEY [NEPAL] FAMILY STUDY, 1996-1997 and HOUSEHOLD AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMPTION SURVEY, 1996 [CHITWAN VALLEY, NEPAL]. These two datasets are no longer available individually.
The Stata files for datasets 7, 15, 16, 18, and 32-41 were produced in Stata 13 or higher. Users of earlier versions of Stata will not be able to read them. There are a few options for users of Stata 12 or earlier to work around the compatibility issue:
- Upgrade to Stata 13 or higher
- Find a computer with Stata 13 or higher and use the 'saveold' command to create a Version 12 file
- Use the latest version of a file conversion utility, such as Stat/Transfer (older versions cannot read Stata 13 or higher files)
[3] Dataset 29, 1996 and 2008 Panel Data Combination, Restricted-Use is a combination of variables from datasets 27 and 12.
[4] Dataset 30 shares additional GIS shapefiles with dataset 31. See the Guide to the Western Chitwan ArcGIS Map Document for more information on these shapefiles and how to use them with the datasets.
[5] Dataset 31 shares additional GIS shapefiles with dataset 30. See the Guide to the Western Chitwan ArcGIS Map Document for more information on these shapefiles and how to use them with the datasets.
[6] Stata and R formats are unavailable for a subset of datasets.
[7] Delimited format is available beginning with Dataset 13.