Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:
The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is normally a triennial cross-sectional survey of U.S. families. The survey data include information on families’ balance sheets, pensions, income, and demographic characteristics. Information is also included from related surveys of pension providers and the earlier such surveys conducted by the Federal Reserve Board. No other study for the country collects comparable information.
Codebook: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/scf/files/codebk2013.txt
Link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/scf/scfindex.htm
Date Inventory Completed: 7/11/2015
Screening
- Is the data collected opinion-based?
- Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
- Is there data available for 2013?
- Is the data collected at the property or housing unit level?
- Can we access the data by August 15th?
Purpose
What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?
The Federal Reserve is the central banking system for the US. The Federal Reserve records and publishes large amounts of data.
Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?
The data is collective to allow for the public and researchers to learn more about the state of the economy and consumer finances.
Who else uses the data?
“Data from the SCF are widely used, from analysis at the Federal Reserve and other branches of government to scholarly work at the major economic research centers.”
Who do they sell the data to?
Free
Method
What is the data collection method?
Survey
What is the type of data collected?
Designed collection
If designed, who created the questions?
Initially the Federal Reserve Researchers. Since 1992: NORC at the University of Chicago.
What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)?
Survey results.
Description
What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?
Consumer finance
What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?
1989 -2013
Is data collected and available periodically?
Every three years
How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided?
Not stated
Selectivity
What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?
Consumers in the US
Accessibility
- How is the data accessed?
Download in csv, sas, stata, ASCII formats.
- Is it open data?
Yes
Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?
None stated
Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?
Free
Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? No
Explanation: The publicly available data is only coded to the census region. they do have data at the county level, but that is restricted and won’t be able to get by August 16. Moreover, the survey is only conducted every three years.