4. NLTS2 Data Sources: Parent and Youth Surveys

1. 4. NLTS2 Data Sources: Parent and Youth Surveys

2. Prerequisites • Recommended modules to complete before viewing this module • 1. Introduction to the NLTS2 Training Modules • 2. NLTS2 Study Overview • 3. NLTS2 Study Design and Sampling

3. Overview • Parent/youth survey overview • Parent/youth interview • CATI skip logic in interviewing • Parent/youth mail survey • Example skip logic for parent/youth mail survey • Closing • Important information

4. Parent/youth survey overview • Telephone interviews (CATI) • 45-60 minute interviews • Supplemental mail survey • With fewer items for parent/guardian • With same items for youth • Incentives given to parent and youth who complete an interview or mail survey • $20 for parent interview • $15 for parent mail survey • $20 for youth interview or mail survey

5. Academic Performance, engagement, abilities, school completion, postsecondary attendance Youth employment Citizenship Follow rules, volunteerism Responsibility Physical health Satisfaction Parent/youth survey overview • Youth characteristics • Demographics, disabilities,abilities • Household characteristics • Composition, SES • Nonschool factors • Group activities, educational supports, expectations • Family involvement • School-family contact, IEPprocess • Personal/social • Friendships, social skills, overall adjustment

6. Parent/youth interviews • Parent/guardians interviewed in Waves 1 to 5. • Youth interviewed in Waves 2 to 5. • Interview was lengthy but questions were asked conditionally to reduce respondent burden. • A guided interview administered by telephone. • Interviews used Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI). • With CATI, logical conditions can be applied to sections of the interview, individual questions, and response categories within a question.

7. Parent/youth interviews • Many questionnaires have skip logic • That is, a structure embedded in the questionnaire through which the next question asked a given respondent is conditioned by answers to a previous question. • Paper questionnaires typically have relatively simple skip logic for respondents to follow. • Example: “Are you employed?”→ IF YES, GO TO QUESTION 14. • CATI skip logic can be more complex. • A respondent does not need to understand and follow the logic, it is programmed in advance.

8. Parent/youth interviews • CATI is a programmed questionnaire system with automated logic for telephone interviews. • CATI logic conditions how the questions are asked using data provided to the system in advance (preload data) or the respondent’s answers to questions in the interview. • Example: If the preload data indicate that the youth has graduated in a prior wave, a question such as “Do you expect [youth’s name] to graduate from high school?” is skipped. • Example: If the respondent indicated a youth is not employed, a question about hours worked is skipped.

9. Parent/youth interviews • Benefits • Reduces respondent burden. • Avoids asking questions that • Do not apply to the respondent. • Replicate information collected elsewhere. • Can customize question phrasing. • Speeds interviewing; only the appropriate questions appear on interviewers’ computer screens.

10. Parent/youth interviews • Data from a CATI interview can bevery complex. • Respondents and interviewers experience just a small part of the interview. • The data, however, contain every possibility, every branch to every dark and dusty corner of the questionnaire.

11. Parent/youth interviews • Skips can be triggered by a predetermined value to a preload item, a specific response or responses to a question, or a logical checkpoint that uses any combination of responses and/or preloaded values. • Skip Instructions are not read aloud to the respondent. • Individual questions in CATI instruments can be easy to understand; the skip implications are not. • Any question may be skipped by one or more logic statements preceding it. • It can be difficult to determine which respondents are included in the data for a given question just by looking at the questionnaire.

12. CATI skip logic in interviewing • Multiple checkpoints can be hard to read and decipher

13. CATI skip logic in interviewing • Just reading the question may not provide enough information to understand skips. • When you read a skip instruction, it might appear to be simple to understand who is being asked the subsequent question. • It may even appear to be simple to understand a group of questions, but it quickly becomes a lot to keep thinking about.

14. CATI skip logic in interviewing • Question I2a and subsequent instruction skips a respondent to I6a if responses are no, don’t know, or refused to I2a and to either I1a or I1c.

15. CATI skip logic in interviewing • Question I2b has multiple instructions; it seems clear that when the youth worked determines whether the next question is asked. • I2c is asked if I2a is yes and I2b is “1” or “3”. • Skip I2c and ask I2d if I2a is yes and I2b is “2”. • If the response was either don’t know or refused the respondent would skip to the next series of questions. • Skip to I3a if I2a is yes and I2b is “-7” or “-8”.

16. CATI skip logic in interviewing • There could multiple skips before item I2b. • A checkpoint before question I1a skipseveryone who has not been in school in the past 12 months to question I7.

17. CATI skip logic in interviewing • And… • Looking at the “I2” series was not enough • The skip instruction after question I2a referenced responses to I1a and I1c. • Who is skipped to I6b? • Answer: respondents who answered no, don’t know or refused to I2a and yes to both I1a and I1c

18. Skip logic in interviewing • Skip logic can be confusing and hard to track while reading the questions. • Referring just to the CATI instrumentis not sufficient. • Understanding the skip logic and implications to the data is important. • Help is on the way: data dictionaries. • Skip logic for each CATI question is displayed in the form of who is asked an interview question.

19. Parent/youth mail survey • Mail surveys to parent/guardians and youth • Scannable booklets sent by mail to respondents in lieu of participating in an interview • Separate booklets and separate mailings for youth and for parent/guardians • Which respondents received a mail survey • Youth whose parents requested that youth be mailed a questionnaire rather than participate in an interview • Respondents who had only a mailing address and no phone • Respondents who did not complete an interview

20. Parent/youth mail survey • Parent/guardian mail survey questionnaire contained a general subset of the interview questions. • Asked key items such as youth’s secondary school status, school leaving, postsecondary attendance, receipt of services, and employment • Referred to as the “Family Survey” in the documentation • Youth mail survey questionnaire contained same items as interview.

21. Youth mail survey • Youth mail survey questionnaire booklet was customized when current information was available. • Parent/guardian usually was surveyed first. • Sections were printed based on parent/guardian responses • For example, if the parent indicated youth had been employed and had attended a 2-year college, youth received a section about employment and a section about 2-year college. • Youth booklet contained all sections when there were no parent/guardian responses. • Youth were instructed to skip sections that did not apply.

22. Examples: Youth mail survey itemsand skip

23. Examples: Youth mail survey items

24. Examples: Family survey itemsand skip

25. Closing • Topics discussed in this module • Parent/youth survey overview • Parent/youth interview • CATI skip logic in interviewing • Parent/youth mail survey • Example skip logic for parent/youth mail survey • Next module: • 5. NLTS2 Data Sources: School Surveys, Student Assessments, and Transcripts or • 6. Implications for Analysis: Data Content

26. Important information • NLTS2 website contains reports, data tables, andother project-related information http://nlts2.org/ • Information about obtaining the NLTS2 database and documentation can be found on the NCES website http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/rudman/ • General information about restricted data licenses can be found on the NCES websitehttp://nces.ed.gov/statprog/instruct.asp • E-mail address: nlts2@sri.com