Advance Letter

Are you the missing piece?
Have you ever worked on a puzzle and then discovered you are missing that
final piece? That’s what the NLSY97 would be without you—incomplete.
Researchers and policymakers need your help to understand what’s going
on in our economy and how it relates to the employment, health, family
life, education, and well-being of people in your generation. Please
help us fit the pieces together. Only you can complete the picture!
The average interview takes about an
hour. To thank you for your participation,
you will receive a financial gift and a certificate
that credits you for 5 hours of community service.
As always, your participation is voluntary, and the information you provide is
protected under Federal law. For more information about how your information is
used and how we protect your privacy, please see the questions and answers on
the back of this letter.
We know you have many demands on your time, and we are happy to accommodate your schedule. We encourage
you to check out all the different ways you can reach us to set up an appointment or update your contact information:

Visit our website at www.norc.org/nlsy97

Text ‘NORC’ to 555-555-5555

E-mail us at [email protected]

Call us toll free at 800-789-1346

Complete the card below and mail it to us in the postage-paid envelope

We appreciate your dedication to the NLSY97. We look forward to speaking with you again soon.

First Name: _______________________________________
Last Name: _______________________________________
Address: _________________________________________
Apt. or Unit Number: _______________________________
City, State, Zip Code: _______________________________
Phone (Home): ____________________________________
Phone (Work): ____________________________________
Phone (Cell): _____________________________________

Best time to call: Days______________

Times_____________
E-mail: __________________________________________
Best way for us to reach you:
Are you Moving? When and Where? __________________
In Person
Cell Phone
_________________________________________________ Home Phone
Work Phone

E-mail
Text Message

WHY IS THIS STUDY IMPORTANT? Thanks to your help, policymakers and researchers will have a better understanding of
the work experiences, family characteristics, health, financial status, and other important information about the lives of people in
your generation. This is a voluntary study, and there are no penalties for not answering questions. However, missing responses
make it more difficult to understand the issues that concern people in your community and across the country. Your answers
represent the experiences of hundreds of other people your age. We hope we can count on your participation again this year.
WHO AUTHORIZES THIS STUDY? The sponsor of the study is the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The study is authorized under Title 29, Section 2, of the United States Code. The Center for Human Resource Research at The
Ohio State University and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago conduct this study under a contract
with the Department of Labor. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the questionnaire and has
assigned 1220-0157 as the study’s control number. This control number expires on October 31, 2011. Without OMB approval
and this number, we would not be able to conduct this study.
WHO SEES MY ANSWERS? We want to reassure you that your confidentiality is protected by law. In accordance with the
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002, the Privacy Act, and other applicable Federal laws, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, its employees and agents, will, to the full extent permitted by law, use the information you provide
for statistical purposes only, will hold your responses in confidence, and will not disclose them in identifiable form without your
informed consent. All the employees who work on the survey at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and its contractors must sign a
document agreeing to protect the confidentiality of your data. In fact, only a few people have access to information about your
identity because they need that information to carry out their job duties.
Some of your answers will be made available to researchers at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies,
universities, and private research organizations through publicly available data files. These publicly available files contain no
personal identifiers, such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and places of work, and exclude any information about
the States, counties, metropolitan areas, and other, more detailed geographic locations in which survey participants live, making
it much more difficult to figure out the identities of participants. Some researchers are granted special access to data files that
include geographic information, but only after those researchers go through a thorough application process at the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Those authorized researchers must sign a written agreement making them official agents of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
and requiring them to protect the confidentiality of survey participants. Those researchers are never provided with the personal
identities of participants. The National Archives and Records Administration and the General Services Administration may
receive copies of survey data and materials because those agencies are responsible for storing the Nation’s historical documents.
HOW MUCH TIME WILL THE INTERVIEW TAKE? Based on preliminary tests, we expect the average interview to take about
65 minutes. Your interview may be somewhat shorter or longer depending on your circumstances. If you have any comments
regarding this study or recommendations for reducing its length, send them to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Longitudinal
Surveys, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20212.
WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION? To learn more about the survey, visit www.bls.gov/nls. To search for articles,
reports, and other research based on the National Longitudinal Surveys, visit www.nlsbibliography.org.