In January 2007, each student in FSoS 5014, Introduction to Quantitative Family Research Methods, was asked to summarize and evaluate information about a secondary data set used in the family field. The following summary was prepared by Sunmi Lee.
1. Official name of study:
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97)
2. Study purpose:
To document the transition from school to work and from adolescence to adulthood
3. Principal investigators:
The National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) of U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
4. Number of waves of data, and ages of participants at each wave:
Eight waves of data from 1997 to 2005 were collected annually
5. Participants (type and numbers) from whom data were directly collected:
Participants were 8,984 youths who were 12 to 16 years old as of December 31, 1996 and one of their parents. Two samples were drawn—a sample of 6,748 respondents representative of youth born between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1984; and a supplemental sample of 2,236 Hispanic or Latino and black youth born during the same period.
6. Types of data (survey, interview, observation, records, etc.):
A personal interview, the screener, household roster, and nonresident roster questionnaire; the youth questionnaire; the parent questionnaire; and the computer adaptive form of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (CAT-ASVAB)
7. Your assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the data set:
One strength is that the data set is longitudinal. Weaknesses include a) lack of a representative sample of siblings and b) only one parent participated.
8. Accessibility of data to the research community:
These data care easily accessible.
9. Your assessment of how useful this data set would be for family research:
These data would be useful for family research in areas such as the effect of poverty on family well-being or the effect of family economic condition on child outcomes. The data also include family environment and family formation variables.
10. What kind of information is on the web site:
There is a summary of variables and an overview of the NLSY97. In the overview, there is information about the samples, measures, and major data elements. In addition, there is information about how to access these data, the sampling procedures, and a list of published articles using these data.
11. How does one gain access to the data?
These data are accessible on-line.
Why family scholars might want to use it:
These data are representative of a population of school age youth. Scholars can examine long-term effects. In addition, researchers can easily access these data saving effort and money required during data collection.