The main purpose of the survey is to obtain detailed information about household spending as well as limited information on dwelling characteristics and household equipment.
A series of pooled microdata files are also available. Each combine 4 years of SHS data into one cross-section: 2010-2013, 2012-2015 and 2014-2017. The files contain household-level data from the 10 provinces only. The advantage of using data pooled from multiple years is the larger sample size which generally reduces the variance associated with an estimate. This may enable data users to produce quality estimates for detailed expenditure categories and/or population groups that would not have been possible with only one year of SHS data. Certain adjustments were made to the data in these files so that the 4 pooled years can be used as one cross-section: For each set of pooled years, survey weights have been recalibrated so that the records in all four years combined are representative of the survey’s target population in the 10 provinces in the most recent year pooled. For example, the weights in the 2014-2017 files were recalibrated to represent the 2017 population. Income and expenditures have been adjusted so that they represent the values in the most recent year of the pooled data. For example, for the pooled 2014-2017 files, values from the 2014 to 2016 surveys have been converted to constant 2017 dollars.
Adjustments were made to certain variables to account for differences in concepts or measurement between the 4 years pooled.
