Retention & Reasons for Noninterview
Retention & Reasons for Noninterview
Reasons for Noninterview
A 'Reason for Noninterview' variable is constructed for each survey year (excluding 1979) in the NLSY79 and provides an explanation of why an interview could not be conducted or completed with a respondent. The cause of noninterview is assigned by the NORC interviewer to each respondent designated as a member of the eligible sample for a given survey year. Typical coding categories have included reasons such as an interview being refused by the respondent or by the respondent's parent, the respondent or family unit not being located, or the respondent being reported as deceased.
Beginning in the 1980s, two administrative categories were added. One reflected a decision by NORC not to attempt to interview certain sample members who were determined to be extremely difficult to interview. The second category indicates that, due to funding cutbacks, interviews would not be attempted with certain members of one or more of the NLSY79 subsamples. Thus, beginning in 1985, interviews ceased for 1,079 respondent members of the military subsample; each was permanently assigned a reason for noninterview of "military sample dropped." A second group of respondents, those belonging to the supplemental economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic sample, was similarly dropped from interviewing beginning with the 1991 survey. The target universe for each survey year--that is, the respondents whom NORC attempts to interview--thus includes all respondents interviewed in the initial survey year exclusive of those who were:
- reported deceased at an earlier interview
- dropped from the sample
- judged to be extremely difficult to interview
Important Information
Reasons for noninterview may change for a given respondent between noninterview years, even if those years are contiguous. Some codes, such as "parent refusal/break off," have become virtually obsolete over time with the aging of the cohort. Other codes should be considered relatively permanent, such as those applied to the reported death of a respondent. (Users should be aware that false reports of death have been used to avoid being interviewed. NORC attempts to verify these reports by obtaining death certificate information or newspaper obituaries.)
The coding of deceased members of the two subsamples dropped from interviewing in 1985 and 1991 has not been handled consistently. Those respondents of the military sample reported deceased during the 1980-84 surveys, that is, those with a code of "65 - Deceased" on a 'Reason for Noninterview' variable, have been recoded, beginning in 1985, to "68 - Military Sample Dropped"; this recode occurred for four cases. Thus, the count of 1,079 reflects all members of the military subsample, both living and deceased, who were dropped from interviewing; however, this means that the cumulative count of total deceased respondents on any post-1984 'Reason for Noninterview' will be understated.
The 22 members of the supplemental economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic sample who had died prior to the dropping of the sample in 1991 were not similarly reclassified as dropped. The count of 1,621 for the economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic sample in the 1991 'Reason for Noninterview' variable reflects only the living members of the total 1,643 who were dropped; the 22 deceased members of the supplemental economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic subsample remain coded as deceased.
Table 3 presents the number of respondents not interviewed across survey years by sample type.
Table 3. Reasons for Noninterview by Sample Type: NLSY79 1980-2018
Key - C: Cross-sectional, S: Supplemental, M: Military
Survey Year |
Total Not Interviewed |
Reason for Noninterview | |||||||||||||||||||
Refusal | Can't Locate | Deceased | Other | Difficult Cases | Dropped1 | ||||||||||||||||
C | S | M | C | S | M | C | S | M | C | S | M | C | S | M | C | S | M | C | S | M | |
1980 | 238 | 220 | 87 | 153 | 91 | 9 | 60 | 101 | 56 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1981 | 219 | 187 | 85 | 133 | 71 | 16 | 30 | 64 | 20 | 15 | 14 | 0 | 41 | 38 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1982 | 235 | 259 | 69 | 86 | 73 | 18 | 56 | 123 | 30 | 24 | 19 | 1 | 7 | 25 | 18 | 62 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1983 | 209 | 202 | 54 | 103 | 94 | 23 | 43 | 63 | 18 | 27 | 26 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 8 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1984 | 297 | 255 | 65 | 204 | 138 | 32 | 54 | 73 | 24 | 30 | 33 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1985 | 360 | 338 | 1094 | 180 | 146 | 5 | 51 | 94 | 7 | 36 | 43 | 0 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 83 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1079 |
1986 | 478 | 456 | 1097 | 284 | 230 | 10 | 78 | 115 | 7 | 43 | 51 | 1 | 14 | 22 | 0 | 59 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1079 |
1987 | 573 | 527 | 1101 | 286 | 217 | 5 | 118 | 165 | 10 | 51 | 56 | 3 | 28 | 39 | 1 | 90 | 50 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1079 |
1988 | 598 | 518 | 1105 | 335 | 248 | 4 | 107 | 128 | 13 | 56 | 68 | 3 | 43 | 36 | 4 | 57 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1079 |
1989 | 540 | 442 | 1099 | 316 | 202 | 7 | 90 | 93 | 5 | 60 | 78 | 3 | 19 | 25 | 2 | 55 | 44 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1079 |
1990 | 613 | 540 | 1097 | 385 | 269 | 8 | 101 | 139 | 6 | 67 | 82 | 3 | 23 | 28 | 1 | 37 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1079 |
1991 | 555 | 1992 | 1099 | 316 | 182 | 9 | 97 | 99 | 6 | 75 | 65 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 59 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
1992 | 558 | 1993 | 1097 | 323 | 196 | 7 | 82 | 70 | 6 | 81 | 71 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 1 | 61 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
1993 | 574 | 1980 | 1099 | 338 | 191 | 11 | 57 | 62 | 3 | 90 | 83 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 77 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
1994 | 654 | 2017 | 1102 | 398 | 196 | 9 | 78 | 59 | 9 | 104 | 96 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 0 | 63 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
1996 | 820 | 2102 | 1105 | 486 | 216 | 6 | 86 | 87 | 11 | 128 | 109 | 5 | 22 | 23 | 1 | 98 | 46 | 3 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
1998 | 952 | 2208 | 1105 | 490 | 233 | 8 | 117 | 146 | 9 | 152 | 118 | 5 | 74 | 59 | 1 | 119 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
2000 | 1162 | 2352 | 1117 | 689 | 333 | 15 | 162 | 180 | 11 | 170 | 136 | 7 | 58 | 61 | 4 | 83 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
2002 | 1336 | 2503 | 1123 | 684 | 394 | 14 | 201 | 195 | 14 | 188 | 151 | 7 | 65 | 66 | 4 | 198 | 54 | 51 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
2004 | 1425 | 2477 | 1123 | 790 | 328 | 16 | 240 | 197 | 15 | 221 | 171 | 7 | 119 | 80 | 3 | 55 | 58 | 3 | 0 | 1621 | 1079 |
2006 | 1482 | 2433 | 1118 | 969 | 403 | 20 | 165 | 138 | 10 | 252 | 197 | 7 | 38 | 19 | 0 | 58 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 1643 | 1079 |
2008 | 1423 | 2387 | 1119 | 814 | 311 | 14 | 177 | 149 | 10 | 274 | 222 | 7 | 103 | 31 | 7 | 55 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 1643 | 1079 |
2010 | 1509 | 2487 | 1125 | 795 | 334 | 22 | 194 | 162 | 14 | 309 | 255 | 9 | 98 | 42 | 1 | 113 | 51 | 0 | 0 | 1643 | 1079 |
2012 | 1689 | 2564 | 1133 | 649 | 238 | 16 | 255 | 198 | 13 | 384 | 292 | 13 | 317 | 152 | 12 | 84 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 1643 | 1079 |
2014 | 1848 | 2635 | 1133 | 775 | 328 | 18 | 346 | 213 | 16 | 444 | 331 | 15 | 111 | 54 | 3 | 172 | 66 | 2 | 0 | 1643 | 1079 |
2016 | 1919 | 2714 | 1141 | 722 | 318 | 20 | 482 | 295 | 23 | 512 | 385 | 18 | 31 | 19 | 0 | 172 | 54 | 1 | 0 | 1643 | 1079 |
2018 | 1964 | 2708 | 1136 | 633 | 281 | 19 | 496 | 271 | 13 | 576 | 435 | 22 | 22 | 9 | 0 | 237 | 69 | 3 | 0 | 1643 | 1079 |
1 Two groups of NLSY79 respondents have been dropped from interviewing: (1) 1,079 members of the 1,280 military subsample were dropped after the 1984 survey and (2) the 1,643 members of the supplemental economically disadvantaged, non-black/non-Hispanic subsample were dropped after the 1990 interview. |