Do data problems ever end???

AS I am sitting here trying to get my dummy variables straight so I can use them to select and combine data, I am finding out that many of the parents did not answer the question on what sex they were....how irritating and frustrating...I can deduce which sex many of them are (for example maybe they did answer a question that said they are a mother or stepmother, etc., or the child might have answered questions on a mom, but not a dad (because dad is dead), but I am getting very frustrated with this entire data set. It is sloppy and unprofessionally put together. That will teach me to use someone else's data for a dissertation...at least if you do it yourself, you can do it right... :(