Integrated Data on Child Health and Development - Project Summary/Abstract IPUMS Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (IPUMS MICS) dramatically simplifies ambitious comparative research using UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, which are an essential source of information on the health and well-being of children, adolescents, young adults, and women of reproductive age in over 120 countries. This proposal seeks continued funding to expand, enhance, and maintain IPUMS MICS for cross-national health research. In Phase I of IPUMS MICS, we delivered over 1200 integrated variables from 218 surveys covering 90 countries and attracting almost 400 users. IPUMS MICS has already enabled ambitious research, including whether in-utero exposure to maternal fasting affects child height, via robust testing across a sample of more than 50 countries; the relationship between maternal labor supply and child disability; and how resident grandparents affect child stimulation. Phase II of IPUMS MICS will extend IPUMS MICS’ substantive impact by incorporating the latest surveys, novel modules (e.g., biometric data for children aged 5-9), and new data modalities (i.e., longitudinal and time-diary data). Building on a solid foundation, we will multiply cross-country health research's spatial and temporal scope by increasing interoperability between IPUMS MICS and harmonized data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (IPUMS DHS). We plan further technological innovations to enhance data accessibility through new syntax languages, ease of complex linking, and enhanced variable discovery. We will offer guidance to researchers for conducting complex data analyses that capitalize on novel MICS features, such as research employing GPS sample points and contextual big data. We will also offer researchers free individualized support and expand our user base via webinars, workshops, conference exhibits and presentations, blog posts, and messages to the almost 300,000 IPUMS users. This work will be carried out by a team of highly-skilled researchers with extensive experience in data integration and in substantive research using global health survey data. IPUMS MICS is a cost-effective means of addressing issues central to NICHD’s mission, such as scientifically valid interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes and prevent prematurity, malnutrition, childhood stunting, disease, and developmental delays. By simplifying comparative analyses based on the invaluable MICS data, IPUMS MICS enables groundbreaking research on women and children’s health.
