Understanding Society is part of a world-wide family of household panel studies. Researchers interested in comparing international data can use CNEF files to find comparable variables across surveys.
The Cross National Equivalent File (CNEF) is prepared by the Department of Human Sciences at the Ohio State University and contains the equivalently defined variables for Understanding Society, the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA), the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE), the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). International comparisons are possible via different sources; information about these can be found on our website.
These cross-national data are designed to allow cross national researchers not experienced in panel data analysis to access a simplified version of these panels, while providing experienced panel data users with guidelines for formulating equivalent variables across countries. Most importantly, the equivalent file provides a set of constructed variables (for example pre- and post-government income and United States and international household equivalence weights) that are not directly available on the original surveys.
Researchers can apply for CNEF files via the CNEF website. You can read more about the access procedure on their website.