III. Search for and Select (Tag) NLS Variables

Investigator allows you to find variables of interest for your research and review the codebook information to make sure you have the right data. This section describes how to search for, review, and select your variables.

Variable Search tab

Clicking on the “Variable Search” tab takes you to the screen below, which allows you to enter search criteria and view the resulting variables from each search.

Seven search categories are available:

1. Area of Interest: the main research area of the variable
2. Word in Title: any word that appears in the variable title
3. Question Text: any word that appears in the text of the question
4. Question Name: a code assigned to identify each question, which gives the location of the variable in the questionnaire or identifies it as a created variable. When possible, question names remain the same for the same question across survey years.
5. Reference Number: abbreviated RNUM, a letter and number combination uniquely assigned to each variable
6. Survey Year
7. Codebook: a search for any text appearing anywhere on the codebook page

To create a search criterion, you need to select three items in the search menu bar:

1. Select a search category such as Area of Interest or Survey Year.
2. Choose logic operators such as equals or doesn’t equal. The options vary depending on the search category. For example, “within” appears only in the Survey Year search and allows you to enter a range of survey years.
3. Depending on the type of search selected, we use the last drop-down arrow either to pick from a list or to enter the text to be searched.

By clicking the “Add” button on the right of the search menu, you can also combine multiple search criteria using and/or logic operators.

Click on “Get Results” to execute the search and see a list of variables that match your search criteria.