Access our data
The Young Lives datasets from the household and child surveys in 2002 (Round 1), 2006 (Round 2), and 2009 (Round 3) are publicly archived and available to download from the UK Public Data Archive. For users in our study countries, they are also available on CD-Rom, on request from the Principal Investigator.
Access via UK Public Data Archive
The anonymised data from the household and child surveys have been deposited as a ‘micro-data’ set in the International section of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) which is part of the UK Public Data Archive.
The website gives access to household and child data from Round 1 (2002), Round 2 (2006) and Round 3 (2009) plus all the relevant documentation, as well as community data from Rounds 2 and 3. Data from our qualitative sub-sample research are not archived in the same way as the survey data because of concerns about confidentiality (and cost). If you could like to use our qualitative data for research purposes, please contact us outlining your areas of interest and your research questions, and we will discuss with you whether the data are appropriate for your work.
ESDS has developed a Study Guide for Young Lives which acts as an entry point for the data. The 3 rounds of data have been assigned the following study numbers:
- Round 1: study number 5307
- Round 2: study number 6852
- Round 3: study number 6853.
Documentation
The archive contains complete documentation relating to the survey, including:
- The household, child and community questionnaires for each survey round
- Fieldworker manuals
- Justification documents that describe what questions were asked and how they were arrived at
- A data dictionary that describes each variable, the relevant question, and gives the code values where appropriate
- For calculated variables. the description includes the method of calculation.
File format
The datasets are deposited as SPSS data files. For each survey round, there is one file containing all the household and child data, plus other files containing sub-tables (e.g. the household roster, which is a list of all family members). The household-level file also contains the key composite variables that were used in the original tabulation plans, including the wealth index.
Using our data
Users are required to register and apply for a password with ESDS and sign a confidentiality agreement before they can access the data. We also ask that users inform ESDS and Young Lives of any analysis or publications resulting from their work with the dataset. This helps us maintain an overview of how the data is being used, and is also required in our reporting to our funders.
If you use the Young Lives data in any publication, we would be grateful if you include the following acknowledgement:
‘The data used in this publication comes from Young Lives, a 15-year survey investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam (www.younglives.org.uk). Young Lives is core-funded by UK aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) and co-funded from 2010 to 2014 by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The views expressed here are those of the author(s). They are not necessarily those of Young Lives, the University of Oxford, DFID or other funders.’
Key contact
Hazel Ashurst, Data Coordinator (hazel.ashurst_at_qeh.ox.ac.uk)
If you have any difficulties, in accessing the datasets, please contact us.
Access our data
