Description

For all persons, ROUNDRD reports the round in which the data were collected. MEPS interviews persons five times, once per round. Analysts may wish to combine ROUNDRD with MEPSIDRD, to uniquely identify round-level records.

Persons with data for both calendar years in which their Panel participated have two Round 3 records. This is because, although the Round 3 interview occurs in the second calendar year, the Round 3 reference period spans both calendar years. Therefore, the individual's Round 3 record is written to both the first calendar year data file and the second calendar year data file. For more information on the relationship between calendar year, panel, and round data, please see the IPUMS MEPS Panel Design Documentation.

Comparability

In 1996, the first year of the first panel of MEPS, persons may only be in their first, second, or third round. Beginning in 1997, values of 1-5 are valid for ROUNDRD.

Otherwise, there are no comparability issues.

Universe

Availability

• 1996-2022

Weights

• No weights are available for this variable. Please refer to ROUNDRD for more information.

Flags