APPENDIX C: DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTALLING

AND USING THE DATABASES

The public use dataset of child support cases consists of two types of records: worksheets and supplemental data. The data for each of 21 counties in the 11 States cooperating in the evaluation are stored in a separate data table for each type of data. This separation was essential for worksheet data, because the field names and field definitions in each worksheet table were specific to each State. Any analysis that attempts to combine worksheet data across counties or States must be undertaken with extreme caution to assure that items that appear to be similar in description do in fact have the same definitions across the States and counties. In contrast, the supplemental data were consistently defined and uniformly coded, and supplemental data can easily be combined across counties. All users should be aware that the States, counties, and cases included in the evaluation were purposively selected and do not constitute a scientific probability sample. The data should not be interpreted as a sample representing child support guideline implementation nationally.

The public use databases for this evaluation are provided in two formats: Paradox 4.5 and DBase IV. The Paradox formats include customized screens that are very valuable in interpreting the worksheet data for each State. Experienced Paradox users can prepare tabulations or extracts from these databases. The DBase formats are more easily imported into analytic software such as SAS or SPSS.

The data tables are distributed in compressed, self-extracting files to permit distribution on standard diskettes. The diskette contains the text of this appendix, the codebook for the supplemental data (Appendix A of this volume), and the documentation for the worksheet data (Appendix B of this volume), in addition to data tables. The complete set of tables is as follows:

(1) Paradox formats:

(2) DBase formats:

To install the data tables from a diskette in Drive A:, users should perform the following steps:

(1) Create a directory named \CSR\EVAL on the user's hard disk (or equivalent network storage device) to contain the files. The hard disk must have at least 12 megabytes of space available to contain the data tables. More space will be required to create extract files or to convert the data to SAS or SPSS format.

(2) The installation must be performed from the DOS prompt. First, the user should change to the new \CSR\EVAL directory.

(3) If the diskette is in Drive A, to install the DBase formats, users should type "A:CSR-DBAS" to start the installation. To install the Paradox formats, users should type "A:CSR-PDOX" to start the installation. Follow the instructions as prompted.