Data and Methods

This chapter introduces data and methods that will be used throughout the study. The chapter first provides a list of available datasets that allow researchers to study health of Chinese older adults, including the dataset to be analyzed in this manuscript. The available datasets introduced by the chapter include the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), and the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). The chapter points out that eight waves (1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011–12, 2014 and 2018) of the CLHLS data will be analyzed in this research. Moreover, the chapter details the age-period-cohort (APC) approach and the cross-classified random-effects model (CCREM) that will be applied in this research. It defines the concepts of age, period ad cohort and provides theoretical considerations of applying the APC approach. The chapter enlightens the reader the methodological and statistical issues that are associated with this study. The discussion of data and methods also allows future research to replicate and extend findings of this current study.