National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) Round Three

NOTICE

Errata: SF-8 Variables on Files Accessed Before January 2017

We incorrectly calculated the SF-8 mental component summary (MCS) and physical component summary (PCS) scores provided in the original National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) data files. The original values excluded an intercept constant needed to scale the scores to general population norms. The intercept constant values are -10.11675 for the MCS and -9.36839 for the PCS.

Because we did not apply the intercept constants, the scores provided in the original data files were too high relative to what they should be on the population-based scale. Thus, if comparing NBS respondents to the general population, NBS respondents would appear healthier than they should. However, within the NBS respondent sample, the scores still appropriately represented greater or lesser mental and physical health according to the design of the SF-8.

We have corrected the MCS and PCS variables included in the current data files so they are now valid for comparisons to other populations.

General NBS Round Three Documentation
Public Use Files
        Public Use File Round Three Documentation
        Public Use Round Three Data Files

National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) Round Three

In 2006, we fielded the round-three NBS to five sub-samples: (1) the third national survey of all beneficiaries (the Representative Beneficiary Sample); (2) the second cross-sectional survey of Ticket participants who resided in a Phase 2 State at the time of Ticket assignment (the Phase 2 Cross-Sectional Ticket Participant Sample); (3) The first cross-sectional survey of Ticket participants who resided in a Phase 3 State at the time of Ticket assignment (the Phase 3 Cross-Sectional Ticket Participant Sample); (4) the first longitudinal follow-up survey of Ticket participants who were first interviewed in round two; and (5) the second longitudinal follow-up survey of Ticket participants who were first interviewed in round one (combined these last four sub-samples make up the round three Ticket Participant Sample).

For round three, we completed interviews with 2,508 individuals in the national sample of beneficiaries and 4,097 from the Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 Ticket Participant cohorts, for a total of 6,605 interviews completed across all sub-samples.  The weighted response rate for the Representative Beneficiary Sample was 81.1 percent. The weighted response rate for the Ticket Participant Cross-Sectional Sample was 84.4 percent. In round two, we completed interviews with 982 longitudinal cases (included in the 4,097 above).   The weighted response rate for the longitudinal Phase 1 TTW participants completing all three rounds was 62.8 percent.

General NBS Round Three Documentation

The following paper, completed as part of the Ticket to Work (TTW) evaluation, provides a description of the sampling design and the data collection activities for Round 3 of the NBS. This paper includes a description of the survey design as well as tables with descriptive statistics based on NBS data for beneficiaries with disabilities.

2006 National Beneficiary Survey: Methodology and Descriptive Statistics" Final Report.

We are providing the following NBS documentation in PDF format (these documents relate to the full restricted use version of the NBS data, but most of the information in these files is applicable to the public use files as well):
NBS R3 Editing, Coding, Weighting, and Imputation.pdf
NBS R3 Data Editing Report.pdf
NBS R3 User's Guide.pdf
NBS R3 User's Guide Appendices.pdf
NBS R3 Questionnaire.pdf

Public Use Files

The public use files are only available for the Representative Beneficiary Samples for each round.  The Ticket Participant Samples are not available for public use.  For more information on the public use files, visit the public use files page.

Public Use Files Round Three Documentation

We are providing the following NBS documentation in PDF format:
NBS R3 PUF Codebook.pdf

Public Use Round Three Data Files (released January 2010; updated December 2016)

We are providing the following NBS data file in SAS 9.1 format:
r3puf121509.zip

We are providing the following NBS Data file in CSV format:
r3puf121509.CSV

We are providing the following NBS data file in Stata format:
nbsr3pufstata.zip