Below are technical specifications and programming information for the HC016A data file. Users are strongly encouraged to read the documentation file (HC016ADOC.PDF or HC016ADOC.HTM) provided in this release for additional information on the content of this file.

HC016A.DAT: This file contains the HC016A data in ASCII format. It contains 234,532 records with 54 variables. This file has a logical record length of 405 with an additional 2-byte carriage return/line feed at the end of each record.

HC016A.SSP: This file contains the HC016A data in SAS Transport format. See the HC016ASU.TXT file for information applicable to SAS users of the HC016A data.

Note: For users' convenience, both of these data files (i.e., the ASCII data files and the SAS Transport data files) are provided in two compressed formats: 1) a compressed ZIP file and 2) a self-extracting executable file. See Notes on Viewing and Downloading Files for information on uncompressing these files.

HC016ASU.TXT: This ASCII file contains information for SAS users of the HC016A data. This includes information on the SAS Transport version of the HC016A data, as well as SAS statements for converting the ASCII data file into a SAS data set (in lieu of using the SAS Transport file) and for creating and using SAS formats. This file also includes helpful information for inexperienced SAS users, such as sample SAS program code.

HC016ASPU.TXT: This ASCII file contains information for SPSS users of the HC016A data, including statements for use in converting the ASCII data file (HC016A.DAT) into an SPSS data set.

HC016ACB.PDF: This PDF file contains the codebook for the HC016A data file. It indicates the record layout (i.e., the start and end position of each variable) of the file. The codebook also includes listings of the variables in both alphabetical and position order, as well as the following information for each variable: 8 character name, 40 character description, format (length), type (character or numeric), start and end positions, and unweighted and weighted frequencies.

The codebook is also available as an active page HC016ACB.ASP and an HTML page. The active page allows users to link directly to the frequencies portion of the codebook from the listing of variables section.