Attachment 5 - New Questions and Lines of Inquiry

NLSY79 Round 31 – Attachment 5

Attachment 5—New Questions and Lines of Inquiry

BLS has undertaken a continuing design effort to examine the current content of the NLSY79 and provide direction for changes that may be appropriate as the respondent’s age. The 2024 instrument reflects a number of changes recommended by experts in various fields of social science and by our own internal review of the survey’s content. The major changes are described in this attachment. Additions to the questionnaire are accompanied by deletions of previous questions so that we expect the overall time required to complete the survey to be approximately 73 minutes.

Main Youth Survey

Additions/Modifications

Additions

The NLSY79 is the only U.S. data source that permits us to see a nationally representative sample over their entire working life. As the respondent’s approach retirement ages, the content of the survey is being adjusted to permit the study of labor force participation and retirement decisions. New questions ask about location of work and other workplace flexibilities, as these may factor into decisions about whether to work and how much to work, as well as what type of work to do.

Employment. In Round 31, the NLSY79 questionnaire will include questions designed to measure details about the location of work, addressing the growing importance of telework and remote work. New questions address where respondents work, how often work occurs in various locations, whether it is possible for the job to be performed remotely, as well as added questions that relate to job search and location of work in job search. These questions were developed by drawing on similar questions recently asked by the RAND American Life Panel COVID-19 Employment Surveys and the American Community Survey as well as review from BLS’s cognitive experts. These questions were also added to the NLSY97 in Round 21.

Health. In Round 31, respondents will be given a battery of cognition assessments, similar to those last given in Round 29. These include self-rated memory, word recall (immediate and delayed), backward counting (from 20 and 86), and serial 7s. As in Round 29, respondents will also be asked the day, month, and year of the date of interview, as well as the names of the president, vice-president, and everyday objects (i.e. “what do you use to cut paper?”). An additional assessment, not given in Round 29, will ask respondents to name as many animals as they can in a minute. This “Animal Naming Test,” last given in Round 28, is included in the cognitive batteries given by other surveys such as the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) and offers information about the respondent’s executive functioning and verbal fluency. This module is sponsored by the National Institute of Aging. In conjunction with previous cognition modules, the new data will allow researchers to trace out a path of cognitive functioning. Asking these health items is appropriate in the NLSY79 as they may have direct effects on current and future employment, functionality, and retirement decisions.

Income, Recipiency, Debt and Assets. The rotating assets module will be included in Round 31. We will again include questions on debt and assets, bankruptcy and financial distress. These questions have been asked in every other round of the NLSY79. We plan to rotate them out for Round 32.

Questions Asked Only for Respondents Not Asked in Previous Interview

A couple of modules are slotted to be asked in Round 31 only of respondents who were not interviewed in Round 30 or another previous round that included the module. These include:

Religion (asked only of respondents not interviewed in round 30). This set of questions on religion was asked in Rd 30 and previously most recently in Round 25. The questions ask about religious affiliation, church attendance, and how important religion is to the respondents.

Perceived Discrimination (asked only of respondents not interviewed in Round 30). In Round 30, we asked questions about perceived discrimination in hiring, firing, promotions, and medical care. In Round 31, we will follow-up and ask respondents who did not receive this module in Round 30.

Fertility (asked only of men who were NIR)

In Round 31, we will only ask Q9-22B-Q9-29QAA-LOOP-END only of men who were NIR and less than or equal to age 60. These questions identify children who have not been identified in previous rounds.

Health (asked only of respondents not interviewed in round 30)

In Round 31, we will only ask the COVID questions (if you had been sick or if you have been vaccinated) if you were not interviewed in round 30.

Wills (asked only of respondents not interviewed in Round 30)

In Round 30, we re-asked Wills, which had not been asked of all respondents since Round 25. We will follow-up and ask those who were NIR in Round 30.

Deletions

Employer Supplement. In Round 31, we will not ask the QES-PDII series about tasks. We will no longer ask questions about COVID.

Fertility. In Round 31, we will no longer ask questions about fertility, except for men who have not been in sample in previous rounds.

Health. In Round 31, we will not ask the questions on exercise or the other questions on nutrition that were asked in Round 30. We will no longer ask the questions about the coronavirus. We will not ask how often the respondent brushes and flosses. We will take out the questions that ask if you were paid for the care you provided.

Income, Recipiency, Debt and Assets. In Round 30, the rotating assets module and questions on debt and assets, bankruptcy, and financial distress will rotate out.

Retirement Financing/Expectations. In Round 31, we will not ask questions on retirement financing or expectations. We expect these questions to rotate back in Round 32.

Interview End: In Round 31, we will not ask the digital literacy questions that were asked in Round 30.

Additional Changes

There are a few places where we made minor changes to the questionnaire, usually in response to instances where the questions appeared to be confusing to respondents. We have also made some changes to response categories in order to speed coding time. For example, there may have been common answers in the “other specify” category, so that we could add a category and then remove the “other specify.”

Details by section on the changes made to the questionnaire are provided below.

Household: no changes

Migration:

1. Ask Religion for NIR only

Marital History: no changes

Schooling: no changes

Military: no changes

On Jobs:

1. Q6-8_JOBVER_2: Add “Or that the number of hours worked or the shift that is worked has changed” to the FI instruction

Employer Supplement:

1. Take out the QES_PDII series

2. Add in YEMP-WRKLOC-1-YEMP-WORLOC-5 (location of work questions)

3. Take out QES-COVID-CHECK – QES-COVID1E

4. QES-33: add the following categories

   1. 17 On vacation

   2. 19 Shutdown or closure

   3. 23 Shutdown was seasonal or temporarily unavailable

5. QES-86A: add the following category

   1. 8 Irregular schedule (Arranged by employee)

6. QES-23A

   1. Remove “(specify)” from “Other (specify)”

7. SES-BUSOWN-7

   1. Remove “(specify)” from “Other (specify)”

8. SES-BUSOWN-19

   1. Remove “(specify)” from “Other (specify)”

Business Ownership: no changes

Business Match: no changes

Gaps:

1. Q7-19 – add the following categories

   1. 12 Did not need/want to work

   2. 15 New job starting soon

Perceived Discrimination

1. Only ask of NIR

Training:

1. Q8-20A

   1. Remove “(specify)” from “Other (specify)”

Spouse Labor Supply

1. CPSSP-93

   1. Shift category 5 into the top position and change the wording to “Retired”

Fertility

1. Ask Q9-22B – Q9-29QAA-LOOP-END only for men NIR <=60.

Health

1. Add COGNITION-C1 to COGNITION-HRS-D158

2. Remove Q11-GENHLTH_1A_1 to Q11-GENHLTH_3A_1A

3. Remove Q11-GENHLTH_7C_1 to Q11GENHLTH_7H_1

4. Ask Q11-COVID_1-REV and COVID_2_VAC only for NIR

5. Remove COVID_2_VACNUM

6. Remove Q11_GENHLTH_5a_2 to Q11_GENHLTH_6A

7. Remove CARE-3C to CARE-3E

8. Remove CARE-4C to CARE-4E

9. Q11-79

   1. Remove the parentheses to insure the second sentence gets read

   2. Add “Medicare” and “Marketplace” as examples of government programs

10. Q11-81G add the following categories

    1. 11 did not need insurance

    2. 14 did not sign up for insurance

Income, Recipiency, and Debt

1. Assets rotate in

2. Q13SSO-63C add category

   1. 15 started receiving social security benefits

3. Q13SSI-SP-63C add category

   1. 15 started receiving social security benefits

4. Q13F-63C add category

   1. 11 needed to reapply/recertify

Retirement Financing/Expectations: rotate out

Wills:

1. Only ask of NIR

Interview End:

1. Take out Digital Literacy YEND-INTERNET1 to YEND-INTERNET9

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