General notes for linking databases

I was thinking of writing about this linkage issues between financial databases. However, I found out that Jie Cao was faster than me. So I quoted him instead of rewriting what he has documented already (http://ihome.cuhk.edu.hk/~b121456/tools.html).

• NCUSIP is the historical CUSIP and changes over time. CUSIP is the current CUSIP and does not change over time. A historical NCUSIP during a specific period will correspond to only one current CUSIP. [www.cusip.com]
  
• The NCUSIP in Thomson, I/B/E/S, ISSM, TAQ and  Option-Metrics is labeled as 'CUSIP'.
  
• In Compustat, CNUM + first 2 digit of CIC is the CUSIP.
  
• The major matching variable across databases are NCUSIP and then Ticker.  
  
• The CUSIP-NCUSIP transition file builds a link between NCUSIP and CUSIP as well as PERMNO at a specified time interval. [Download the transition file here]
  
• For ISSM database, all NYSE and AMEX stocks from 1983 to 1992, and NASDAQ stocks after 1990 can be matched by NCUSIP. NASDAQ stocks before 1990 could be matched by SMBL, which at a given month & exchange corresponds to the Ticker in CRSP.
  
• For TAQ databse, stocks can be matched by the first 8 digits of TAQ's 12-digit NCUSIP.
  
• Mutual Fund Links (MFLINKS) connects CRSP mutual fund information to Thomson (S12) mutual fund holding data. 
  
• Matching by company or fund name is difficult as the last resort. The SAS function 'SPEDIS" can determine the likelihood of two words matching.  
  
• Extra efforts are needed for a precise matching. See this sample SAS Code to generate a link between I/B/E/S and CRSP using multiple identifiers. (Internet connection and access to both I/B/E/S and CRSP data at WRDS are required)
  

CUSIP and CFMRC Dataset

If you would work with Canadian stocks info data, you would notice that CFMRC (the leading database for Canadian securities and the equivalent of CRPS (for US stocks) does not always list the CUSIP identifier with the data.

CUSIP is highly important to link the CFMRC data with other databases as tickers are not always reliable. In CFMRC (the Windows client), CUSIP is not produced in all formats. One has to select the extended format to get CUSIP in the output.

Researh tools

I have noted earlier that going into academia is a long quest and require high levels of dedicaiton, perseverance and commitment. This is not enough, one needs a toolbox to proceed with.

I would put here a lot of the items that are extremly important for any research discsipline. I will follow with another list of tools that are needed for financial reaserch.

For any kind of research one needs:

1. Strong exposure to research methodology, ethics, and norms
2. Solid comprehension of statistics and statistical measures, tests and appropriate interpretation
3. Clear style for reviewing the literature
4. Access to academic scholary databases and libraries 
5. Critical understanding and assessement of literature
6. Ability to narrow down on a resaerch topic that is not too wide and not too narrow. 
7. Ability to classify and organize readings on the go

The approaches I suggest to fulfil the above:

1. Following a strong reaseach methodology course with an experiences professor. Unfortunately, I have seen so many methodology courses that fit anywhere but in a methodological paradigm. Students coming from different backgrounds into the Phd program, needs refined methodological courses that help them find their way into the academic research areana and fix their feets. I had to read a lot on my own to cover this gap in my studies. Yet, I can not claim that I mastered the methodology I should follow.
   
   
2. Invest enough time to grasp all the required stastical concepts and know the ins and outs of the statistal package mostly used for that discsipline. It would save you tens of hours in modeling and debugging if you really know the tool you are using extremly well.
   
   
3. Work with an experienced researcher on the literature review part in order to improve your skills and learn the tricks that others are following. This would be a great step to get you on track with something that is easier to collect, classify, digest and then reproduce from your resaerch point of view. There are a lot of tools that would help succeed in doing a great literature review. One of my supervisor advised me to get this book: "Fink, A. (1998). Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From Paper to the Internet. Sage Publications, Inc.". It is available on amazon but I have borrowed it from Concordia University library. There is another resource to hint on how to conduct your own review at this page:
   

   The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It

   
   
4. The last point I woudl like to mention in this area is the access to a rich collection of books and electronic resources. Your unversity library should have a lot of what you are looking for. Do not let books sitting on cold dark shelves. Go on and use those books. We are paying a lot for these collections and more than 80% of it goes by unnoticed for many years. In the golden age of libraries, we used to find books with torn pages. Now, I get a lot of books untouched. Really brand new. I would like to note that Concordia Library has one of the richest collections I have even seen in a Library especially for some disciplines that students rearely goes into. We are very lucky in Montreal, if the book is not available in Concordia, McGill is there, HEC or even UQAM. A wealth of knowlege waiting for someone to dig and mine into its pages.

In addition to that, one needs real tools to get the job done. I will not talk about these tools in details now. I would just list them:

• Fink's book
  
• Statistical Packages (Matlab in my case)
  
• Firefox and Zotero (For bibliographical referncing). I prefer Zotero over RefWorks or EndNotes.
• mediaWiki (Really? Are you sure? Yes absolutely)
  

A fresh start

It is not easy to claim that Phd can be made easy. It is a long term quest that needs at least 5-6 years investment.

I spent three years so far in my Phd program at John Molson School of Business and I am looking foward toward finishing in two years maximum in order to catch with the market that might collapse or might run up again. Either way, staying for a long term in here is not the best option for any student because of the high opportunity cost associated with longer term studies.

Anyway, I might go back to ponder upon the social aspects of Phd studies later on. However, for the time begin, I would like to dedicate this blog for my research experience. I do not have a long experience so far as I just strated serious research work last term only. However, I would like to present my observations in here in case someone is looking at organizing his own work in a better way.

I do not claim that I am talking about my own knowledge. Rather, I will be talking about what I am learning from my supervisors:

1. Dr. Lawrence Kryzanowski
   
2. Dr. Chitu Okoli

Dr Kryzanowski is my supervisor for my dissertation in Finance, while I am working with Dr. Okoli on a side research about Wikipedia because I have a keen interest in the wiki model from an MIS point of view.

On this blog, I would note my research observations from time to time and add everything I am learning as time allows in order to keep a reference for someone who came fresh to the Phd program as I did three years ago.