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 Julie A. Zaloudek.
Name of Study: National Survey of Families and Households
Purpose: To provide a broad range of information about families and family life that could be used as an interdisciplinary research resource.
Content: Includes life-history such as living arrangements in childhood, leaving and returning home, marriage, cohabitation, education, fertility, and employment as well as some items on relationships, kin contact, economic well-being, and psychological well-being.
Principal Investigators: James A. Sweet, Larry L. Bumpass, and Vaughn R. A. Call from the Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Funding: Funded by the Center for Population Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Waves of Data Collection:
Wave One: 1987-1988
Wave Two: 1992-1994
Wave Three: 2001-2003
Participants:
Wave One:
N=13,007
Participants were from randomly selected households with a randomly selected adult in each household participating in the interview as a primary respondent. The spouse or cohabiting partner of the primary respondent was given a shorter self-administered questionnaire.
Wave Two:
N=10,007 original respondents
N=5,624 current spouse of cohabiting partners
N=789 spouses or partners for relationships that ended
N=1,090 children who were ages 13-18 at first wave and 18-23 at second wave
N=1,415 children who were ages 5-12 at first wave and 10-17 at second wave
N=802 proxy interviews with spouse or other relative when original respondent had died to was to ill to interview
N=3,248 parents (one randomly selected per respondent)
Wave Three:
N=9,230 main respondent, spouse, and focal child interviews
N=924 proxy interviews
Types of Data: Interviews, some self-administered sections
Strengths: This is a very large study with a nationally representative sample and broad range of questions. It was intended to be useful to researchers across many social science disciplines. It was very thoroughly done with a lot of multiple reporting (e.g. primary respondent, partner/spouse, child, kin).
Weaknesses: As with any longitudinal project, attrition is an issue. The overall response rate for Wave Three was 57%. Also, although there were many detailed questions asked, they might not be the kinds of questions that researchers might need for their particular research questions.
Accessibility: Data are accessible via the website as well as information for navigating the data, creating tables, conducting analysis, etc. There is also an email address for receiving support in using these data.
Usefulness: These data could be very useful to family scholars. There are many questions about family history and life. It has potential to address many research questions. The website, however, seems a bit outdated with several expired links. Also, the data set is so large that one really needs to have some specific questions going into it. Without a specific purpose, it would be easy to get lost in the data.
To access data got to http://nesstar.ssc.wisc.edu/webview/index.jsp
The website is useful but plain. Don’t expect to be dazzled but to find some good information on the survey and potential for conducting research based on the survey.
Gaining Access: There do not appear to be any barriers to accessing the data. Data from the Wave Three (2001-2003) are not yet available on the website.
Posted by vonko002 at January 31, 2007 4:29 PM