COR 000a

       Memo on "Recoding of 1957 Questionnaires" 8/17/62

     To determine which of the items on the questionnaire were
incorrectly coded, a nonrandom sample of 125 questionnaires was
pulled from the total sample, and these 125 were checked for
coding errors on those items in which we were interested. The
items checked were questions nos. 2, 5, 6, 7, 9(a), 10, 11, 12,
13(a), (b), (c), and (d), 14, 17, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28.
Those which were found to be in error in a significant proportion
of cases were questions nos. 2 "What kind of school do you plan
to attend?"; 9(a) "My father is engaged in the type of occupation
checked in the left hand column below."; 13 (c)  "Would you
borrow money for college expenses if you could pay it back on the
installment plan after leaving college?"; and 21 "Did you take a
college preparatory course?". The errors on questions nos. 2
(school plans) and 9(a) (father's occupation) were true coding
errors--errors of judgment on the part of the coders. The errors
on question no. 13(c) (Would you borrow?) were errors of
omission--the question was coded only on those questionnaires
which fell within the original 1/6 Little sample. The errors on
question no. 21 (college prep.) were chiefly made by the
respondents. Apparently students in many Wisconsin high schools
were unfamiliar with the meaning of the term "college preparatory
course". Many students whose configuration of courses would have
been sufficient to meet entrance standards at even the most
selective colleges, responded that they had not been in a college
preparatory course.

     Our criteria for recoding the above questions were the
following:

     (A) Question 2 (college prep): The responses were put in the 
         following categories: (1) Art Institutes, Nursing        
         Schools and other schools not listed below; (2)          
         Business, Vocational, or Trade Schools; (3) State
         Colleges or County Teachers Colleges and all others      
         adjudged to be college level but not Liberal Arts        
         Colleges or Universities (including Milwaukee
         School of Engineering and Michigan Tech); or (4) Liberal 
         Arts Colleges or Universities (including Seminaries). If 
         the respondent was not continuing in school, the column  
         was coded 119. Any school whose credits are           
         transferable to the University of Wisconsin was          
         considered a college and was coded either (3) or (4).

     (B) Question 9 (a) (father's occupation):  The responses     
         were put into the following categories: (1) Unskilled,   
         Semi-skilled, Service, or Not Available; (2) Farmers;
         (3) Skilled Workers; (4) White Collar; (5)Professional   
         and Executive.

     The occupations placed in category (1) are those listed
under "Laborers," "Operatives and Kindred Workers," "Service
Workers," and "Private Household Workers" in Appendix B of Albert
J. Reiss, Occupations and Social Status. In addition, all those
who checked the "Factory Worker" category as their father's
occupation were placed in category one.

     The code (2) was assigned to all who checked "Owns, rents,
manages farm" as their father's occupation or who otherwise
indicated that their fathers were farmers.


     The code (3) was assigned to those whose fathers were
engaged in occupations classified by Reiss as "Craftsmen,
foremen, and kindred workers."

     The code (4) was assigned to all who checked "Office work",
"Salesman", or "Owns, rents, manages small business" as their
father's occupation, or who specified occupations classed by
Reiss as "clerical and kindred workers," "Sales workers," or
"Managers, officials, and proprietors" (unless self-employed).

     The code (5) was assigned to all who checked "Professional",
or "Executive" as their father's occupation, or specified
occupations classified by Reiss as "Professional, technical, and
kindred workers" or "Managers, officials, and proprietors"
(unless self-employed).

     (C) The responses to question 13(c) (Would you borrow?) were 
         simply coded (1) if yes and (2) if no.

     (D) Question 21 (college prep):  The responses made to the   
         question "Did you take a college preparatory course?"    
         were disregarded completely.  Rather, we looked at the   
         configuration of subjects taken in the respondent's high 
         school career and decided whether that configuration
         constituted a college preparatory course. The criterion  
         used in distinguishing college prep from noncollege prep 
         courses was the minimum standard for entrance into the   
         University of Wisconsin in 1957. Anyone whose courses    
         satisfied the minimum standard for entrance was coded as
         college prep (1). All others were coded as noncollege    
         prep (0). The minimum standard for entrance into the     
         University of Wisconsin follows:

             FOR A STUDENT TO BE CLASSIFIED AS "COLLEGE PREP."
                                                  
         THEY MUST HAVE MET ALL 3 OF THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS:
                                                  
                        I.6 semesters of English
                                    
           II. 4 semesters each of two of the following areas:
                                    
                 Math (Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry)
                                    
              Natural Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
                                    
                       History and Social Studies
                                    
                            Foreign Language
                                    
          III. Plus 4 more semesters from the four areas--Math
                                    
              Natural Science, History and Social Studies,
                                    
                          and Foreign Language