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- Where to find everything you need to know
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- NLS Website: www.bls.gov/nls
- NLS News: Newsletter points out topics of interest, announces data
releases, reports significant errors, and lists recent research.
- NLS Bibliography: Searchable database of all NLS research known to our
staff, available online at www.nlsbibliography.org.
- NLS Investigator: Documentation items are also available through the
“documentation” section of the NLS Investigator.
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- The NLS website at www.bls.gov/nls offers an overview of the survey
program and links to various other resources. Features include:
- General description of each cohort
- NLS-related press releases
- Frequently asked questions
- Links to documentation items
- Link to online NLS Investigator
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- The NLS Website includes a link to the order/download page.
- Complete list of NLS data and documentation.
- Access items electronically or in hard copy.
- If the item name is a hyperlink, you can also click on the link to view
the item online without downloading.
- When you place an order or make a download, you will be asked to provide
some personal information.
- We keep this information confidential and don't send you unsolicited
emails.
- We occasionally may need to send out a very important notice about a
problem with data for one of the NLS cohorts. In this case we send
emails to everyone who downloaded the data so that you will know as
quickly as possible if the problem will affect your research.
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- The quarterly newsletter points out topics of interest, announces data
releases, reports significant errors, and lists recent NLS research.
- View PDF versions of current and past newsletters on the NLS Website
(under "Publications and Other Documentation")
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- The annotated bibliography is a searchable database of all NLS research
known to our staff. Users can search for research by author, title,
source, format, topic keywords, or any word in the citation.
- Available online at www.nlsbibliography.org.
- Includes form to submit new citations or correct citations in the
bibliography.
- Provides helpful hints for citing NLS data in research.
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- Another online resource is the “documentation” section of NLS
Investigator. The Investigator includes links to the online items and
also to an Investigator user manual.
- Investigator Documentation
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- Questionnaires: Show the questions asked of respondents
- Codebooks: Show the data collected in the interviews
- User's Guides: Overview survey procedures, sample selection, response
rates. Topical sections summarize survey content, describe differences
across rounds, give other data notes.
- Codebook Supplements: Provide detailed technical information on specific
variables
- Geocode Codebook Supplements: Provide detailed information for use with
the restricted-use geocode CD
- Errata: Describe any errors that might be discovered subsequent to data
release
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- In brief, the goal of the questionnaire is to show the questions asked
of the respondents, along with the "skip patterns," so that
users know what questions were asked and who answered them. Because the
NLS program has been in existence for nearly 4 decades, the format of
the questionnaires has changed over time.
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- PAPI means Paper-and-Pencil Interview.
- The early surveys were done entirely with paper and pencil--interviewers
had a supply of hard copy questionnaires and filled one out for each
respondent. Users can look at the exact paper instrument used by
interviewers.
- We scanned the PAPI instruments and made the resulting images available
as PDF files. These can be viewed online or downloaded at the NLS
order/download page. (Because they are PDF files with images, these
files are quite large.)
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- PAPI instruments are available for the following cohorts/survey years:
- Older Men, all surveys (1966-1990)
- Young Men, all surveys (1966-1981)
- Mature Women, 1967-1992
- Young Women, 1968-1993
- NLSY79, 1979-1992 plus 1978 household screener
- NLSY79 child, 1986-1998, plus portions of 2000 administration
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- Note that we refer to a single "instrument" for each survey
year. However, the "instrument" may actually include several
different forms, particularly in the NLSY79 and NLSY79 child interviews.
For example, a complete set of instruments for a PAPI-year NLSY79
interview might include the main questionnaire, a Household Record form,
an Employer Supplement, a confidential drug use supplement, and a
confidential abortion card. When you order or download an instrument for
a given year, you will receive all of the pieces used in that year.
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- CAPI means Computer-Assisted Personal Interview.
- NLS interviews are now conducted using laptops. The computer determines
which questions to ask based on internal calculations and "skip
patterns" not seen by the interviewer or respondent.
- CAPI questionnaires are more complicated than their PAPI counterparts,
because computerization permits more complex skip patterns.
- To represent this computer-driven interview for researchers, the survey
program produces a series of “question records,” which show both the
actual questions and the skip pattern instructions that guide the
instrument.
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- For recent rounds, we have created a hyperlinked version of the
questionnaire. Researchers can use the hyperlinks to follow question
paths forward or backward through the questionnaire.
- CAPI questionnaires can be downloaded from the NLS order/download page
or can be reached by following the documentation hyperlinks in NLS
Investigator.
- Sample CAPI questionnaire section
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- CAPI instruments are available for the following cohorts/survey years:
- Mature and Young Women, 1995-2003 (beginning in 1995 the two women's
cohorts
were interviewed using the same instrument and field
procedures)
- NLSY79, 1993-present
- NLSY79 child, 2000-present
- NLSY79 Young Adult, all surveys (1994-present)
- NLSY97, all surveys (1997-present)
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- Although the term CAPI implies an in-person interview, some respondents
are interviewed by telephone in each round. If some aspect of survey
procedure differs between in-person and telephone interviews, this will
be specified in the user's guide.
Respondents who were interviewed by telephone can be identified
by using interview mode variables in the data set.
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- Questionnaires show what will be asked during the interview; codebooks
show the data that was actually collected during the interview and
variables that were created later.
- The codebook is not actually a book or even a set of printouts. Instead,
it is a series of computer records, one for each variable in the data
set.
- Codebook pages can be accessed through NLS Investigator.
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- Each data release is accompanied by a detailed cohort-specific user's
guide.
- Technical chapters describe survey procedures, sample selection,
response rates, changes to the sample over time, weighting and design
effects.
- Topical chapters summarize survey questions on a given topic, describe
changes across rounds, explain which respondents are eligible to answer
the questions, describe any created variables related to the topic, and
provide special "user notes" with important information about
various aspects of the data.
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- The user’s guides are posted online in HTML.
- You can browse the entire user’s guide from the BLS website, the NLS
order/download page, or the NLS Investigator documentation section.
- The guides are also linked to the codebook pages for individual
variables. We are as thorough and accurate as possible in creating these
links, but there may be instances when additional information is
available on a topic that does not appear as a link on the codebook
page. If you are familiar with the content of the entire guide, you can
check in other sections if the initial link does not provide the
information you are looking for.
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- If you are looking for a quick overview of the questions asked in
various rounds, check the “asterisk tables” in the back of each user’s
guide.
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- Data releases are accompanied by cohort-specific codebook supplements.
- These documents, organized in attachments and appendices, contain very
detailed technical information about specific NLS variables.
- Example 1: Industry and Occupation codes
- Example 2: Programming code for created variables
- For the NLSY79 and NLSY97, special Geocode Codebook Supplements are also
produced. Similar to the main file supplements, these provide coding and
other technical information for geographic variables.
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- For earlier rounds, the codebook supplement was printed in hard copy.
Printed codebook supplements can be ordered on the
NLS order/download page and can also be viewed in PDF or HTML
format from that page.
- For the last several rounds, the codebook supplement information has
also been converted to HTML format and hyperlinked to the codebook pages
for individual variables.
- Beginning with the round 20 (2002) survey of the NLSY79 and the round 6
(2003-2004) survey of the NLSY97, the codebook supplements are available
only in HTML.
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- Survey staff exercise great care when processing interview data and
creating variables. However, in any large data set errors will
inevitably be found.
- Errata pages are maintained for each data set. Links to the errata pages
can be found on both the NLS Website (follow the cohort-specific links)
and on the NLS order/download page. Users are strongly urged to check
these pages regularly to become aware of any issues that might affect
their research. For very serious problems, survey staff may attempt to
contact known data users via email or, as a last resort, via U.S. mail
(this is why we collect contact information).
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- If you don't find the answer to your question in our documentation, you
can contact NLS User Services for assistance.
- NLS User Services Office
921 Chatham Lane, Suite 100
Columbus, Ohio 43221
usersvc@postoffice.chrr.ohio-state.edu
phone 614.442.7366, fax 614.442.7329
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