As mentioned earlier in this document, BLS has undertaken a continuing redesign effort to examine the current content of the NLSY79 and provide direction for changes that may be appropriate as the respondents enter middle age. Based on the 1998 redesign conference and subsequent discussions, as well as our experiences in 2000–2008, the 2010 instrument reflects a number of changes recommended by experts in various social science fields and by our own internal review of the survey’s content. The major changes are described in this attachment. Additions to the questionnaire have been balanced by deletions of previous questions so that the overall time required to complete the survey should remain about the same.
Main NLSY79
Additions/Modifications
Spouse/Partner Race and Ethnicity. In Round 23 we included a series of retrospective questions asking for the race/ethnicity of all the respondents’ past spouses and partners. In Round 24, we ask for this retrospective information only from respondents not interviewed in Round 23. For all other respondents, we now ask race and ethnicity only for new spouses or partners. Race and Hispanic ethnicity will be collected for all spouses and partners reported at each interview using the standard OMB format in SPARRACE_1-2.
Risk Preference. In Round 24, we include revised versions of three questions from Rounds 15 and 20-22. These questions (RISK_1, RISK_2 and RISK_3) ask respondents to choose between two alternative jobs that differ in their income risk. After consulting with experts who introduced similar changes to risk preference questions in the Health and Retirement Study, we reworded the questions so respondents are asked to choose between two new jobs rather than between their current job and a hypothetical new job. This change eliminates the ability of respondents to favor the “status quo” regardless of their attitudes toward risk.
We propose refielding these three risk questions in Round 24 for several reasons. First, in recent years researchers have increasingly agreed that these questions provide us with direct, high-quality, scientific measures of individuals’ innate preferences toward risk. In particular, these measures have proven to be important predictors of individuals’ willingness to take risks in the labor market, including their decisions to change employers, to change occupations, and to enter or exit self-employment. The decision to be self-employed (or to own a business) is perhaps the biggest “gamble” individuals take in the labor market. Given the proposed inclusion in Round 24 of a detailed module on business ownership, analysts will benefit from accurate, up-to-date measures of risk preference that can be used in conjunction with the new business ownership data. Second, several recent studies have shown that individuals’ risk preferences change with age and other life experiences. Therefore, it is important to update our responses to these “income gamble” questions repeatedly. In light of the advice alluded to above that these questions should be reworded to eliminate “status quo” bias, we believe they should be repeated in Round 24 rather than wait for subsequent rounds of data collection. Third, researchers are increasingly using these measures of risk preference to explain phenomena other than labor market transitions. For example, these measures have been shown to be highly predictive of the decision to marry, the decision to divorce, and the decision to hold various investment portfolios. As NLSY79 respondents age, updated risk measures will become increasingly important to researchers who use the NLSY79 to study wealth accumulation and other pre-retirement, life-cycle events.
On the advice of experts who have analyzed risk preference data collected by various surveys, we add questions RISK_4 and RISK_5A through RISK_5H. RISK_4 asks respondents to rate (on a scale of 0 to 10) their willingness to take risks in general. RISK_5A through RISK_5H ask respondents to rate their willingness to take risks while driving, in financial matters, with respect to health, and in other aspects of life. These questions—which are based on questions asked in the 2004 German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP)—will enable researchers to learn whether willingness to accept income risk is correlated with willingness to accept other forms of risk.
Philanthropy. Round 22 included a short set of questions (ACP_16A through ACP_20A) on respondents’ volunteer activities in the past 12 months. After soliciting advice from an external panel of experts, in Round 24 we introduce a more extensive set of questions that asks about both volunteer activity and monetary donations. This new section is intended to fill gaps in our understanding about philanthropy by revealing (a) the extent to which volunteer work and monetary donations are linked; (b) the extent to which both are related to workplace activities; and, more generally, (c) how respondents get involved in philanthropy.
Questions PHIL_1 through PHIL_7 ask about money donations made to religious and nonprofit organizations. PHIL_1 identifies whether respondents made any donations during the year, and PHIL_2 identifies the various types of organizations (health care, educational, and so forth.) to which donations were made. For each type of organization named in PHIL_2, PHIL_3A though PHIL_6 identify the amount given and whether the donation was made through the workplace, a payroll donation, with employer matches, and so forth. PHIL_7 asks respondents to identify their reason(s) for making donations. Questions PHIL_8 through PHIL_18B collect similar information about volunteer activities. Questions about workplace-based volunteerism identify whether respondents received paid time off for volunteering (PHIL_14), used their work skills in their volunteer work (PHIL_15), learned about job opportunities through volunteering (PHIL_16) and acquired new skills through volunteering (PHIL_17).
Business Ownership. The most significant addition for Round 24 is a one-time retrospective on business ownership. The survey has tracked respondents’ employment experiences in detail since Round 1, but the only way to identify whether and when respondents owned their own businesses is from (a) responses of “self employed” to the repeated class-of-worker questions or (b) business/farm income reported in the income section. The new section augments this information by asking how many businesses respondents have owned since age 18 and collecting detailed information on the characteristics of up to ten businesses. After collecting retrospective data in Round 24, we plan to update the business ownership history in subsequent rounds by asking about current and newly-acquired businesses.
The business ownership questions (BUSOWN-1 through BUSOWN-29) were designed in consultation with researchers who have studied data collected by other surveys. Most of the new questions are drawn from the Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons or its predecessor, the 1992 Characteristics of Business Owners; a few questions are from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics.
After defining what is meant by a “business” and determining how many businesses respondents owned (BUSOWN-1 through BUSOWN-3), we ask a series of questions about each business (to a limit of ten per respondent). Questions inside this loop identify when the business was established and when respondents acquired ownership (BUSOWN-5 and BUSOWN-6), how and why the business was acquired (BUSOWN-7 and BUSOWN-8), sources and amounts of money used for acquisition (BUSOWN-10 and BUSOWN-11), and characteristics of the business including legal classification (BUSOWN-12), nature of the business (BUSOWN-13), and size/scope of the business (BUSOWN-14 through BUSOWN-16). We then ask whether respondents still own the business (BUSOWN-17) and, if not, when and why ownership ended (BUSOWN-18 and BUSOWN-19). The loop ends with questions about respondents’ current/final ownership share (BUSOWN-20 and BUSOWN-21) and whether the business is/was owned exclusively by family members (BUSOWN-22). The detailed history obtained from these questions will enable analysts to examine movements into and out of business ownership, and to learn how business ownership fits into the overall career.
The new section ends with a few questions to be asked of all respondents, including those who report never having owned a business. These questions ask whether respondents’ family members ever owned a business (BUSOWN-23A and BUSOWN-23B) and, if so, whether respondents ever worked for those family members (BUSOWN-24A and BUSOWN-24B). We also ask about U.S. patent-holding (BUSOWN-25 through BUSOWN-28) and whether respondents consider themselves to be entrepreneurs (BUSOWN-29). The information obtained from these questions will assist analysts in learning what types of activities and traits lead to business ownership.
The employer supplement is amended slightly for Round 24 for compatibility with the business ownership questions (BUSOWN-1 through BUSOWN-29) that follow. Question SES-56E_CHK2 and SES-56E_CHK3 in the employer supplement identify cases where the current job represents business ownership. For those cases, respondents are immediately taken (once) through the business ownership questions SES-BUSOWN-5 through SES_BUSOWN-22. This enables respondents to report everything we wish to learn about currently-owned businesses in the employer supplement, rather than having to return to discussing these current jobs/businesses in a subsequent section.
Wills. As more respondents reach their 50s, we believe it is important to augment information on health, asset accumulation and retirement plans with information on estate planning. In Round 24, we launch a new set of questions on wills (WILL_1 through WILL_16). These questions are drawn from the 2006 round of the Health and Retirement Study, and also have overlap with questions asked in the final rounds of the NLS Women.
These questions identify whether respondents have a will, a trust, or both (WILL_1-2), when it was established, when and why it was last modified (WILL_3-5), whether it provides for children and for grandchildren and, if so, whether it provides for them equally (WILL_6-13), and whether it provides for charities or nonprofit organizations (WILL_14). Respondents who report no will or trust are asked (WILL_15) whether they intend to establish one; in future rounds we will learn whether these respondents actually establish wills.
On the advice of experts on aging-related issues, we end this section by asking whether respondents have long-term care (LTC) insurance (WILL_16). While relatively few respondents are expected to have LTC insurance at this stage in the life-cycle, planning for costly health care expenses is intrinsically linked to bequest planning; we hope to provide valuable information to researchers by tracking the existence of both LTC insurance and wills/trusts over subsequent rounds.
Foreclosure. Round 24 includes a series of questions on mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. These questions were taken from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study administered by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. The new questions are FORECLOSURE-1_INTRO through FORECLOSURE-13. The questions cover the period since January 2007 and ask respondents whether they had been more than two months behind on mortgage payments, received a foreclosure notice, or lost property due to foreclosure.
Stock Options. In Round 24 we add a short series of questions on stock options. Questions STOCK_OPTIONS_1 through STOCK_OPTIONS_10 ask respondents whether they were offered stock options by their employer, whether the option was offered before they accepted the job, whether the option affected their decision to take the job, whether the option is tied to work performance, and whether they have exercised or plan to exercise the option. Despite having collected a wealth of employment-related information over the years, the survey has not asked about this key component of compensation in prior rounds. We believe the new data will assist researchers in determining whether stock options have important effects on hiring, retention, and performance.
Health. Question Q11-80F is reworded to ask whether respondents have a health savings account, medical savings account, or health-related flexible savings account to help pay for health care expenses. In past rounds, the question simply asked whether respondents have a medical savings account. We made this change in response to feedback from researchers who noted that respondents are unlikely to recognize the term “medical savings account.”
Fertility. Question HLTH-9A_MS1 asks when female respondents’ biological children last saw a dentist for a routine dental checkup. This follows an existing question on the children’s last medical exam. Question HLTH-9A_MS1 has been asked of Young Adult respondents, so we now ask it for younger children as well.
Deletions
Assets. After Round 19, we determined that it was not necessary to ask an extended series of assets questions in every survey round. The assets module was included for Round 23, so it will be excluded for Round 24.
Political involvement. Round 23 included questions funded by the American National Elections Studies program at the University of Michigan about voting and political attitudes. The questions are omitted from Round 24 because funding was not provided for them.
Young Adult Survey
Based on feedback from Young Adult advisory board members, users of the young adult data, and discussions with various people associated with the design of the main NLSY79 youth and the NLSY97 cohorts, we are suggesting the following changes to the Young Adult instrument for 2010:
Section 3: Dating/Relationship History
Changed wording in Q3-49D and Q3-49E to clarify the concept of dating. This was done because FIs indicated that some of the younger respondents did not understand the term dating as previously used. The current wording clarifies what we mean by “dating”.
Added Q3-1PA as a machine check to screen for respondents who were living with a partner at DLI but also reported having been separated from a previous spouse. If so, they are then asked additional questions Q3-1PB and Q3-1PC to establish whether or not a divorce had occurred and if so, the date of divorce. Q3-1PD then branches respondents into the correct question flow for the remainder of the section. We previously had a small number of respondents for whom we did not collect a date of divorce.
Added Q3-13C through Q3-13G to ask additional religion questions of new, current spouse/partners. Added Q3-1NB-1 through Q3-1NB-4 to ask additional religion questions about continuous spouse/partners. These questions parallel what we already ask the respondent about their own religious behaviors as well as asking if the respondent and the spouse/partner attend religious services together. These additions increase the usefulness of our data for a wider range of research interests.
Added Q3-76A to ascertain perceived fairness of the household division of labor questions that we have a history of asking, and Q3-76B to establish how partners manage household income. Both of these questions are taken from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) Family and Changing Gender Roles III questionnaire which was administered in 2000 in approximately 35 countries.
Added Q3-80 (matrix question) to get at the process of decision-making in various realms of family life. This series was also taken from the adapted from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) Family and Changing Gender Roles III questionnaire which was administered in 2000 in approximately 35 countries.
Section 5: Military
Added Q5-1-A to check if R was currently in military at DLI. If yes, added Q5-1-B to ascertain if they are still enlisted in that branch. Added Q5-3-CA through Q5-3-CG for those who were currently in the military at DLI. This sequence sets up proper text fills and then slots them into the appropriate part of the looped sequence depending on whether the respondent said they were still enlisted or not. This set of questions was added to ensure that all spells of military service were properly followed up.
Added Q5-10E through Q5-10H to ascertain grade/rank last held in the Armed Forces. These questions are also asked in the NLSY79 and are proposed to be included in the NLSY97. We include them for clarification and comparability across the cohorts.
Revamped Q5-12 so that a text sub asks either “ever or since DLI”, as well as having extra interviewer instructions for respondents who have ever been in the military. Also changed question wording from “…in a foreign country during a period of combat?” to “…in a combat or war zone?” These improvements are based on questions proposed for the NLSY97 veteran’s module.
Added Q5-12-0A-B through Q5-12-0A-E to ask about service-connected disabilities and perception of disability. These questions are based on questions proposed for the NLSY97 veteran’s module.
Section 7: On Jobs/Employer Supplements
We adjusted the On Jobs/Employer Supplements section to verify current jobs from the last interview and to update information on whether or not these jobs are still current. These changes make our employment section more seamless and comparable to the NLSY79. We added Q7-0K through Q7-0UD to determine if the respondent is still working at an employer(s) who was the current employer(s) at the date of the last interview. We allow for up to 3 past employers, as that was the maximum found in the YA08 data, and make adjustments within the loops to branch and update correctly.
Section 12: Fertility
Added Q12-118C and Q12-118D to follow up any respondent who indicates DK or refusal on birth weight of their child with a question concerning whether the child was about 5.5 lbs or less. This question enables us to ascertain if the child was low birth weight.
Added Q12-59A-A through Q12-59A-I to ask YAs about the height and weight of their kids (except kids who are deceased, adopted out, deleted, or in foster care or whom the YA never sees). These questions will enable researchers to compute a BMI measure for each child.
Section 14: Health
Added Q14-10GA. This question was also asked in 2006 and 2008 under the question name YASR-18B. It was moved to the health section to decrease the discomfort some respondents reported when answering it immediately after YASR-18A.
Added Q14-10JD to ask about frequency of strength training exercise. This question has been included in the NLSY79.
Added Q14-10M through Q14-10RB to augment our healthy behavior questions. These additions are based on questions already asked in the NLSY79.
Added Q14-CARE-1 through Q14-CARE-4B to capture the amount of time, if any, a respondent spends caring for others with health problems. These questions are also included in the NLSY79 health section.
Added Q14-17A to ask about last time R had a dental check-up. Added Q14-17B to ask about last time R had a routine eye exam. These questions help to broaden our coverage of healthy/preventive measures.
Added Q14-24AA through Q14-24AF to follow-up on respondent who have no current healthcare or who have been without health care any time in last year. These questions are taken from the NLSY79.
Section 15: Income and Assets
Added Q15-146 to find out whether the respondent or his/her spouse or partner had been more than 60 days late on various payments. Added Q15-147 to find out about financial difficulties.
Section 16: Attitudes
Added four questions to CES-D sequence: Q16-6AA, Q16-6EA, Q16-6EB, and Q16-6GAA. These additions make the CES-D items asked in the YA parallel to those asked in the NLSY79, as well as including one additional item that recent research using data from Add Health suggests is important to include in order to improve the cross-cultural comparability of the CES-D.
Changed wording in Q16-7 to say “women’s employment” rather than “the employment of wives.”
Added three gender-role items: Q16-7HAA, Q16-7HAB, and Q16-7HAC. These are taken from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) Family and Changing Gender Roles III questionnaire which was administered in 2000 in approximately 35 countries.
Young Adult Self-Report Section
Deleted questions YASR-76A through YASR-93 (entire political sequence). These were fielded in 2006 and 2008 with funding from outside sources.
Modified answer choice on contraceptive questions (YASR-54A and YASR-54B): removed “abstinence” and added “The Ring” – Nuva Ring, “the Patch – Ortho Evra, and Morning After Pill – Preven, Plan B. Also, changed Depo Provera (“the shot”) to read “The Shot” – Depo Provera, Lunelle. These changes were based on a review of the other-specify verbatim responses from the last two rounds of the YA survey.
Modified wording in YASR-10-2 to include “in print or on the internet”. This change was made based on feedback from FIs.
Modified YASR-68AA to include the clarification: “By volunteering, I mean doing unpaid work or providing unpaid assistance, either occasionally or on a regular basis.” Also removed “(INTERVIEWER: IF NECESSARY, PROBE:)” so that all respondents get full clarification and added “Such work could be required by your school or work or by a court, or be strictly voluntary.” Also changed the phrase “church groups” to “religious groups”. Added YASR-68AB to get a frequency of volunteer activities. Flipped the order of YASR-69B through YASR-69F with YASR-70A through YASR-70H, so that type of organization is asked before reason for volunteer/community work. Modified wording in YASR-70D to read: “…Religious or spiritual organizations, including churches, synagogues, and mosques (but not including attending worship services)?” Changed “social-action” to “civic” in YASR-70E to clarify meaning. Modified the wording on YASR-70F to read: “…Volunteering in a hospital, nursing home, or retirement community or in a program making home visits to people in need?” Modified wording on YASR-70G to add “including schools and libraries”. Added YASR-70HA through YASR-70HE to expand list of organizations asked about. Added YASR-70HG and YASR-70HH to ask about charitable giving. Added YASR-69CAA and YASR-69CAB to screen for college attendance and ask about volunteering being required by sorority/fraternity. Added YASR-69DA to ask about volunteering at the behest of family or friends. Added YASR-69DB to ask about volunteering because it looks good on applications. Added YASR-69G and YASR-69H to clarify primary reason for volunteering. These revisions to our long-standing volunteering items have come from a careful and extensive review of the new volunteerism module in the NLSY79 as well as verbatim responses in the YA survey.
Young Adult Grant-only questions
Added JOB_RISK-1 through JOB_RISK-3 to assess willingness to income gamble. These questions are similar to questions asked in the NLSY79 in previous rounds, although they have been reworked to reflect improvements based on the current income gamble questions in the Health and Retirement Study. This new question wording will also be used in the NLSY79 2010 questionnaire. Our primary reasons for refielding these questions in Round 24 of the NLSY79 are that (a) we wish to bring to bear recent advice on how to word the questions more precisely; (b) analysts have shown that individuals' attitudes toward risk change with age, so we wish to repeatedly update the data; and (c) measures of risk preference are important determinants of job change, occupation change, entry into self-employment, marriage, divorce, portfolio choice, and other events. By collecting identical data for Young Adult respondents, we will provide analysts with unprecedented opportunities to explore life-cycle variation in the relationship between risk preferences and various risky decisions and, more importantly, to explore cross-generational relationships in attitudes toward risk.
Added Q14-40 through Q14-54B as the age 29/30 health module. These questions are largely drawn from the NLSY97 Age 29 module, with some additions/adjustments from the NLSY79. We have also added COGNITION-C1 through COGNITION-8I from the NLSY79 as part of our age 29/30 health module. This module is proposed to give a baseline for health around age 30, to provide comparable information with the NLSY97 cohort, and to enable researcher to undertake additional intergenerational research comparing health in the NLSY79 mothers and their young adult children.
The Income and Assets section includes a new series of questions on mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. These questions were taken from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study administered by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. The new questions are Q15-148 through Q15-158. The questions cover the period since January 2007 and ask respondents whether they had been more than two months behind on mortgage payments, received a foreclosure notice, or lost property due to foreclosure.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | ATTACHMENT 6—NEW QUESTIONS AND LINES OF INQUIRY |
| Author | Nora Kincaid |
| Last Modified By | rowan_c |
| File Modified | 2009-09-11 |
| File Created | 2009-04-27 |