COR 704 Interviewer Instructions for WSRL Project Number 701 1977 Sibling Study Winter, 1977 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Professors William H. Sewell and Robert M. Hauser have been studying the socioeconomic careers of more than 10,000 young men and women who were seniors in Wisconsin high schools in 1957. Information was obtained from the seniors at the time about their family backgrounds and on their own educational plans and occupational aspirations. These people were followed up in 1964 to learn about their educational and occupational experience and achievements since graduating from high school. In 1975 another follow-up was done by the Wisconsin Survey Research Laboratory in which more than 9,000 of these same people were interviewed in a telephone survey. This interview included detailed questions about such matters as social background, education, past and current occupations, job satisfaction, family formation and dissolution, number of children, military service, residential migration and participation in various community activities and organizations. This information was needed for a study of factors that have influenced the socioeconomic careers and life experiences of the sample up to about age 35. The information from the 1975 survey has now been edited, coded, and the first summary of the results will soon be ready for distribution. As you can well imagine, it has taken a long time to prepare the information from a 41-page interview for computer analysis. Articles and monographs, based on this unique set of data, will be produced that will help in understanding the complex processes involved in life careers. This analysis will be useful in the planning of educational programs and facilities for the future. Past work on the project has resulted in more than 50 publications dealing with such topics as the effects of social and psychological factors on educational and occupational aspirations and achievements, the effectiveness of different high schools and colleges, and equality of educational and occupational opportunity between the sexes, the socioeconomic classes, and rural and urban youth. This research has received widespread attention and the Wisconsin study is regarded as an important resource because nowhere else does there exist such a large and representative sample of persons for whom there are good data covering important life experiences over such a long period of time. The present study, the one on which you will be doing the interviewing, is in a real sense an extension of the Wisconsin longitudinal study. Its purpose is to compare the experiences of siblings (brothers and sisters) raised in the same families in order to determine the overall effects of families on the later socioeconomic and family life careers of their children. In addition, it will provide data for determining the precise influence of sibling position (birth order), sex of sibling, and child spacing on the amount and type of education the child obtains and on the kind of occupation he/she eventually enters. In the course of the 1975 follow-up interviews with the original sample of 1957 respondents, a complete roster of the respondents' siblings (brothers and sisters) was obtained. From this roster, one of these siblings was selected at random (using a random numbers chart) and the selected sibling's full name and current address were obtained from the respondent. It is this randomly selected sibling that you will be interviewing. This brother or sister may actually be a half-sister or brother or may even be adopted. You should interview him/her anyway because Sewell and Hauser are interested in the influence of the family environment on the careers of its members not on the influence of their common heredity. The questionnaire for this study is based on the original questionnaire used in the 1975 interview with the brother/sister of the sibling you will now be interviewing. All but a few of the questions are identical with the questions in the 1975 interview. This is because strictly comparable information is needed for the analysis that Professors Sewell and Hauser and their associates will be doing. Since the questions have been used before and the present questionnaire has been pretested twice on a sample of siblings (these siblings will not be interviewed again), you should have no great difficulties with the questions once you have gone through training and understand the question objectives. This present survey is financed by a grant to the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the Spencer Foundation, Chicago, Illinois. This foundation makes grants to universities for research that will contribute to the further understanding and improvement of education. The persons you will be interviewing may demand further information about the study either before, during, or after the interview. Most people will not; but in case they do, we have prepared some brief standard responses to the questions they are most likely to raise. These questions and responses are given below. You should read the appropriate response(s) when questions are asked rather than to "ad-lib" a response. If these answers do not satisfy the respondent, ask your supervisor to answer his/her questions. BACK-UP STATEMENTS TO BE READ IF THE RESPONDENT DEMANDS FURTHER - INFORMATION ABOUT THE STUDY. Questions: What is this study about? or Why is this study being done? or What is the purpose of this study? or How will the information be used? Answer: This is part of a study that is being carried out at the University of Wisconsin to learn about the educational, occupational, and family life experiences of a large sample of young men and women who were originally in high school some years ago. Your brother/sister (NAME) was in this sample and has told us a ut his/her experiences. We are particularly interested in knowing about the similarities and differences in the experiences of children from the same families (brothers and sisters) because this will help us to learn how families affect the life experiences of their children. The results will be useful not only in the study of careers but also in the planning and evaluation of state-wide vocational, technical, adult, and college education programs. The infor nation you give us will be treated as confidential and will be used only in tables and statistical analysis. Question: If the information is confidential, how is it that you have kept my brother's/sister's name? Answer: We retain a separate file of the names and addresses of people we want to talk to. But their answers to our questions are not revealed to anyone else--not even to parents or brothers and sisters. Once the information has been prepared for analysis, all names and other identifying information are separated from the answers to questions. Question: Does my brother/sister know that you are calling me? Answer: When we interviewed him/her, some months ago, we asked him/her some questions about his/her brothers and sisters including your address but we did not tell him/her we were going to talk to you because at that time we did not know for sure that we would be talking to you. Question: Who gave you my phone number? Answer: It was obtained by dialing information. or I don't know for sure. I was given this number to call by a supervisor. She/he probably got it by calling your parents or possibly a brother or sister. Question: Are you going to interview all of my brothers and sisters? Answer: No, only you. You are the only one in our sample. Question: How was I selected? Answer: By a random (or chance) procedure--just like in an election poll. Question: Who is funding (or paying for) this study? Answer: It is being done with a grant from a private foundation (The Spencer Foundation, Chicago, Illinois). This foundation is interested in research that will contribute to the improvement of education. GENERAL OBJECTIVES A. ACCURACY Throughout this interview, we ask primarily for factual data and we want to emphasize the importance of obtaining as much accurate data as possible. This places the responsibility of detailed probing upon you. It is really a matter of common sense, being alert and seeing that the information your respondent gives, answers the questions you have asked. The dates at which events occurred are extremely important in this study. Our experience and pretest results indicate that respondents will be able to accurately recall ALMOST all the dates we ask for. In the few instances where there is some difficulty with recall, allow the respondent enough time to try to recall. If he or she cannot be certain, push for an estimated date and give us a marginal note that this was estimated. B. WORDING OF QUESTIONS Almost all of the questions in this survey have been used successfully in other surveys. It is very important that our data be obtained in exactly the same way as in these other surveys. That means asking the same question in the same way with the same response alternatives and the same codes. Some questions--as they are worded--could be improved BUT we did not change the wording in order to insure comparability with questions in other surveys. Please ask each question as it is written, even if it would be easy for you to improve it. C. EDITING We realize you will be writing fast when you are on the phone, but. it is equally important to edit well after the interview is completed. This includes insuring your writing is legible. This may seem like a simple point, but we feel it necessary to remind you. D. OCCUPATION AND INDUSTRY If we had to pick out one most important type of information in this study, it would be the information about people's jobs and the places where they work. When we ask about a job, we usually do it with a set of five questions: (1) "What kind of work were you doing?" (2) "What were your most important activities or duties?" (3) "What kind of business or industry was this?" (4) "Was this mainly manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, or something else?" (5) A question asking whether R works for a private business or individual, the government, or is self-employed. The responses to these questions will be coded into the U. S. Census Bureau's 7-digit occupational code. Basically, the 7digit code is composed of three separate component codes which uniquely identify most of the occupations found in the United States. The three component codes are for ... (1) occupational title (2) the industry in which the job is located (3) class of work (i.e., private, government, or self-employed) We will now describe in some detail exactly what kind of answers we need for each of these questions. The first two questions provide us with the first component code occupational title. In the response to the first question, "What kind of work were you doing?", we usually obtain an occupation name or title, e.g., electrical engineer, stock clerk, farmer. However, responses of this type are rarely specific enough to uniquely assign one of the hundreds of occupational titles. Therefore, we ask, "What are your most important activities or duties?" Here we want to know--what tasks does R perform, and with what product, materials, or service does R perform this task. A few examples may help illustrate what we need to know. Suppose R says that R is a "factory worker" and that R "works on the assembly line." This is unacceptable because there are hundreds of occupations which fit this description. You would have to probe to find out what R does on the assembly line. Does R rivet, operate a machine, assemble, inspect, or what? You would also need to find out with what material R works--television, plastic toys, automobiles, cloth dolls, or what? Or suppose R says that R "works in electronics". This is unacceptable because electronics is an industry, not an occupation. It would be necessary for you to probe to find out what task R performs and with what object R performs this task. For example, does R operate electronic computers, solder circuits in radios on an assembly line, repair television sets, or what? As another example, suppose R said R was a foreperson. In this case, we would have to know what kind of work R supervises, that is, what is the task of the employees R supervises, and with what object do they perform that task. Also, if the employees R supervises operate a machine, we need to know what kind of machine-such as a lathe, milling machine, drill press, sewing machine, etc. The next two questions, "What kind of business or industry was this?" and "Was this mainly manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, or something else?", provide us with the industry title. Here we want to find out what type of company (not the name of the company) R worked for, or the nature of the product or service which the respondent's work provided. Suppose R said R worked for Dupont. This would be unacceptable because it is just the name of a company and Dupont makes many products. You would have to probe to find out what Dupont makes at the particular facility where R works. Or if the respondent said R was in the retail sales industry, this would be unacceptable because we need to know what R's company sells. Push the respondent to be as specific as possible. For example, if R works at a company that manufactures or sells automotive parts, we really need to know what these parts are and what they are made of. The final question provides information about the class of worker. Thus we want to find out whether R (1) works for a private company, business, or individual for wages, salary, or commission; (2) was a government employee; (3) was self-employed in own business, professional practice, or farm; or (4) works without pay in a family business or farm. Also, if R was self-employed, we want to find out whether R's business is incorporated. As you can see, the responses to these five questions must be complete if we are to be able to accurately code occupations. Therefore, if you are unsure whether or not a particular response is satisfactory, be safe and probe for more details. If you think the response is incomplete, but R does not know anymore details, please note that on the schedule. It will save us unnecessary callbacks. E. PRECODES Throughout the schedule you will see blanks for occupation, industry, and class of worker precodes. This does not concern you as an interviewer. QUESTION-BY-QUESTION OBJECTIVES Please note that we have provided space on the bottom of the "Screening Sheet" (Questions A - C) for Sample # and I.D. #. Both of these are important for identification purposes. Here we are asking for the highest grade of regular school attended. This means attended, not necessarily completed. By "regular" school, we mean a formal program of studies leading toward an academic degree or certificate. Whether the respondent attended full-time or part-time is not significant. Remember our emphasis is on an academic program rather than vocational, technical apprenticeship or on-the-job training. This academic schooling can be taken at a grade school, high school university or college, or through correspondence courses, or in special classes at vocational schools, military bases, etc. which lead to graduate equivalency. Q-1b: Refer to Question I and la for the completed level. Q-1c: If R attended Ilth grade or less, this question is a double check on Question 1. A "Yes" to this question means highest grade completed is 12. Q-1d: Please fill in the appropriate grade or year completed according to the filter of Questions I through 1c. Please note that the date and highest grade completed is key information you refer to in Question 9. Q-2a: Note the probe under the question. In most cases, the answer will be obvious to the respondent. In the few cases where the R received his high school diploma through some equivalency courses, we want the name of the last "regular" high school attended and not the military base, vocational night school or correspondence school where the equivalency was obtained. Please note that the word "ATTEND" is the key to this directive. R need not complete a full year of college in order for a "Yes" to be checked. Q-3b: If R attended college, but did not complete at least one year, the box (R completed less than one year of college) should be checked and you should skip directly to Question 8. For this respondent, we will not ask Questions 4 through 7c and if this R is not presently enrolled in a formal academic program (See Q-8), the highest level of completed school will be 12th grade for purposes of Question 9. Get exact I title of degree. For example, if R says he got a "Bachelor s degree in electrical engineering," did R receive a "BA" with a major in electrical engineering, a "BS" or a "BEEV Regular student means enrolled in a formal program leading toward a degree or certificate. Whether the respondent attended full-time or part-time is not significant. Note: post-degree training such as internships and residencies should not be counted as regular education, but as an occupation. Q-5a: Note the question asks for extra years completed after highest degree, certificate or diploma was awarded. Question 4a will tell us the R's highest degree. If it is any degree beyond the Bachelor's degree, the "Yes" box should be checked here. Typical graduate or professional degrees are: Masters, Ph.D., MD, DDS, LLB, JD, etc. These degrees are earned after completion of the Bachelor's or its equivalent. This question always implies academic level work beyond usual four year degrees. In case R received a graduate degree, but not a Bachelor's degree, record information for the last part of R's undergraduate education and write a marginal note to this effect. We mean a student who is enrolled, either full-time or part-time, in a formal program of studies, that is, who is working toward an academic degree or certificate. Do not include business, vocational, technical training or apprenticeships. Note that if "Yes" to Question 8 and R got a degree, then Question 5 should usually be "Yes" also despite some differences in the two questions. Please try to resolve any discrepancies, but if you feel one is valid write an explanatory marginal note. The highest level of school completed and the month and year should have been filled in here when it was determined in Q-1d. Please write it on the schedule, if you have not done so at this point. The job we are referring to throughout the Q-9 series is the first, full-time civilian job after completing the highest level of school. By full-time, we mean 35 hours or more per week. Q9-9d:This is the first time we are asking about occupation. Refer to the General Objectives, Section D. Q-9e: We want the date on which R started this job--even if it was begun part-time before R completed school. However, if there were interruptions, we would want to know the last time R began the job. If R actually started this job before completing R's highest level of school, remember that "this job" means the SAME duties and the,SAME employer. Q-12: We are asking only about formal programs, not just a collection of non-related courses. For this survey, we have dropped the question dealing with individual courses. Here we are looking for programs. (One program may consist of several related courses leading to a vocation.) Q-12c:If more than one program was taken and both were of equal length, have the respondent select the one R considers most important or the one R has taken most recently. We want a fairly specific title or description of the type of training written here. If the training was an apprenticeship, please be sure to write that down. Q-12d: Apprenticeships are often on the job and in school at the same time. Check the one corresponding to where most of the training was received. Q-12e: If this question is asked, note the skip direction to Q-12g. Q-13- 13f: You will note that the word "active" is underlined for emphasis. This implies you are away from your regular job and normal (usual) activities. In a broad sense, you are in uniform and your military service is your main vocation. The problem in the previous survey was confusion over active status in Reserves and National Guard. Note that in Question 13, you must have spent two consecutive months or more on active duty in the Reserves or National Guard to qualify as a "Yes" in those categories. Two-week summer training sessions or weekend stints do not qualify as "active" duty by our definition. Q-13a: "Enlisted" category: means enlisted in the regular services. Each boxed answer choice is a separate method of entering the armed forces. Even though you enlist in the Reserves or National Guard, this is different than enlisting in the Army, Navy, or Marines in the regular service. Q-13c: The date we want here is not when the respondent signed up for Reserves, but when R first participated in active duty for two months or more. Q-13e: The date we are looking for is R's last separation from active service which lasted two months or more. We do not want the date when R might be called up for special riot control work or summer training for the Reserves or National Guard duty. What we really want is the separation from long term--two months or more--active duty--not necessarily complete separation from the service for the people in the Reserves or National Guard. Q-15: Refer to General Objectives, Section D. March 1970 is simply an arbitrary date selected. It is roughly 7 years ago. If R changed jobs in the middle of March 1970 or had more than one job at a time, let him or her decide which was most important. Remember we only want to describe ONE job in Questions 15 through l5e. Q-16: Read only the question, not the response alternatives. If R gives two answers, mark only the one nearest the top of the list. Check "a" - Working. A person who was working for pay or profit or without pay on a family business or farm. Check "b" - With a Job but not at work. This response is appropriate if a person was temporarily absent from a job or business for such reasons as illness, vacation, bad weather, labor dispute, temporary layoff, etc. This response is NOT appropriate if a person is on call to work whenever there is need for R's services (e.g., substitute school teacher, substitute mailman, and cooks and waitresses on call with a catering service.) During the periods these people are not actually working, classify them either as (c) "looking for work," or (h) "other" depending upon how they answer the question. Check "c" - Looking for work. This phrase means a person is trying to get work, or trying to establish a business or profession. Check "d" - Keeping house. This response applies to a person primarily occupied with R's own home housework or the care of R's children. It applies if this would have been a person's chief activity except for R's own temporary illness or temporary absence from home. It also applies even if the person didn't do the housework physically but managed others in doing the work. Check "e" - Going to school. This response applies to a person if R spent most of R's time attending any kind of public or private school including trade or vocational school. This would apply even if the person was absent because of temporary illness or vacation. Check "f" - Unable to work. This response applies to a person who, because of R's own long-term physical or mental illness or disability, is unable to do any kind of work. The disability must be something specific, not a combination of minor disabilities that normally come with advanced age. Remember, a person must be unable to do any kind of work for this response to be appropriate. If R expects to be able to work within six months, do not count him or her as unable to work. Check "g" - Retired. This response applies if R reports him or herself as "retired." If R says that R is semi-retired (i.e. is working shorter hours), the correct response is "a" working. Check "h" - Other. Examples of activities which would fall under this category are: (1) taking it easy, (2) working without pay for a neighbor, or (3) volunteer work. Q-16 18: The important thing is to.follow the skip directions carefully and ask each appropriate question exactly as written. Q-19 Series: This is the usual job information format. See General Objectives, Section D. The job recorded here will be the R's current job or last job held if R worked within the last five years. Read appropriate tense (are/were) depending upon whether R is reporting on R's present job or a previous job. Q-19b: Please note the probe at the bottom of Page 10. You must record whether employer is manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, or something else. Q-19d: The "there" means for that company at any location regardless of whether R was transferred from place to place. Q-20: The "there" means of the current location (or establishment) of the place where R now works (not all people working for the combined corporation). Q-21 23: These hours do not have to add up to the number of hours worked. They may be more or less. Q-25: Be sure when you are reading this question that you enunciate clearly as the words "very" and "fairly" may sound alike. Q-28- 33: Refers to R's present or most recent job. Q-35:Last year means the calendar year of January through December 1976 We want to know the total number of weeks worked even if R only worked a few hours in some weeks. Q-39:By "longest" we mean the job held for the greatest number of weeks Q-40:If "Same as current or last job" is checked, it is extremely important that you have in fact verified this. You must ask by repeating Questions 19 through 19c answers to the R. If the job title in Question 39 changes, or the duties change, or the business or industry is different, or if the classification of worker changes, you must check "different job." To assume this is the "same" job is not enough. You MUST be alert to detect these possible changes which clearly would change the coding of this series. If "different job" is checked and it appears everything is identical to Q-19 series, please give us a marginal note to explain the difference. Q-41 43: These questions dealing with income are important. They are part of the usual demographic information we ask on most studies in order to interpret results. If R is unsure, ask for an approximate fiaure. If R refuses, explain confidentiality, ask one more time, then go on. Each of these questions are separate types of income. If you suspect that the respondent has given you the SAME information in two places, please clarify it with him. For example: In Q-41, a business person who owns their own business may give you an answer like $20,000. If R gives you the same figure in Q-42, be sure R isn't thinking of the same thing. R could in Q-41 have drawn a salary from R's business and in Q-42 R could have also drawn additional money from R's own business or all R's income could be reflected in Q-42 only. Because these same questions are also asked of the spouse in Q-69-71 and are exactly like these except ... are asked of the spouse's income ... be sure there is not an overlap by listing the same amount of money for both the respondent and the respondent's spouse. If, for example, a wife is in a business partnership with her husband--only the respondent's share of the business should be reflected in Q-42. The spouse's share of that business would be reflected in Q-70. If the respondent doesn't split-up the income from the business or the farm, be sure you make a marginal note so we know exactly what your figures represent. Q-41: Wages and salary refer to total pay, not just take-home pay. It includes commissions, tips and bonuses. It does NOT include "pay in kind," or expense accounts. It does NOT include unearned income such as dividends, interest, welfare, unemployment compensation, etc. Q-42 43: The answer which will be coded is the amount recorded in Q-42c or Q-43c (the net amount). Remember we want only the R's net--not the total net for the business or farm. This also becomes a problem if the spouse is involved in the business and shares in the net amount. Be very sure that it is perfectly clear the net amount R receives. Q-48: If "Yes" is checked, Questions 49 - 50 should all be asked about R's father. If "No" is checked, Questions 49 - 50 should all be asked about the individual listed in Question 48a. Follow skip arrows and directions exactly. If you do not, you put coders in a position to make a determination what you did correctly and what incorrectly. A good example of the confusion this can cause is Q-48 and Q-48a. If "Yes" is checked in Q-48 and you record "father" in Q-48a, the people who try to code these responses don't know whether R only lived with "father" and "No" should have been checked in Q-48, OR if R did live with both parents and the interviewer was merely trying to provide extra details. Q-48a should have been "Inap." When "Yes" is checked in Q-48, we assume all the job questions are being asked about the father. Q-49: Refer to General Objectives, Section D. Q-51: Refer to cover sheet for sibling's name and use it when reading the question. Q-51a: If R and sibling were not born to the same mother and father, what is the relationship? Q-52: "Family" in this question means R's household as it existed when he/she was growing-up--up to about age 16. Q-53 - 53d: This is a new series. Please follow the arrows and skips. We are getting more detailed information on Lutherans and Baptists. Q-54: Be sure to fill in the name of the preferred church denomination as listed in the Q-53 series. Q-64b: We are interested in biological, not adopted, children, Q-67: Please note and follow the correct skips under the boxes. "Student", "Keeping house" and "Other" are the.only ones to be asked Q-67a. Q-68- 68d: See General Objectives. Section D. Q-69- 71c: The same questions as asked of R, only these refer to spouse. (See Questions 41 - 43c) Q-72- 77: Only those who are not presently married are asked these questions. Q-78a- 78b: We really mean biological children. Note that we have a way of dealing with adopted, step, or foster children if the R is a female. Q-83: If it will help the R, put the name of the child next to the child number in the heading and use it when reading the question. Whenever any of R's children are not biological children, please write in the names of each biological child on the chart so we are sure both you and R were talking about the correct time. If R had twins, check the highest child number, ask the appropriate questions, write "Inap",and check "did not work" (inap the rest of columns referring to time between twins). Q-83 Intro: In the description of the period in Columns "0" and "1" we have put "first" in parenthesis. This word "first" is only to be read when she has had more than one marriage. Q-83a: When you read this question for (DESCRIBE PERIOD), substitute the appropriate words from'the column heading. For example, under Column "0", you would read "about the period before your marriage, did you work at all then?". As another example, under Column "2", you would read Question 83a in the following way: "About the period between your first and second births, did you work at all then? ". Q-83b: The reading of Question 83b is similar to Question 83a--where you substitute appropriate words from the column heading for (BEGINNING OF PERIOD). For example, under Column "l", you would read: "How soon did you start working after your marriage?". Q-83c: Similar again to Question 83a and 83b, you would substitute appropriate words from the column heading for (END OF PERIOD). For example, under Column "l", you would read: "How long was it before your first birth (John was born), when you stopped working?". Q-84: You can only check "Yes" if... Q-16 is "a" - working OR Q-16 is "b" - with a job but not at work OR Q-17 is "x" - working full or part time now. If you correctly follow this directive, you should have no confusion. Q-92: If there is any written change from the computer printout-whether you have made the change or someone else has--you must check "No". Q-92, All these corrections or additions must be made on the 92a, COVER SHEET, not here on the schedule. 94a: When you ask Question 94a, we urge you to fill in the full name at that time. Please ask for full name not just middle initials. You should have R spell out the name. Comments: Please write at least two or three sentences about the R's attitude and nature of the interview situation. Explain any extraordinary circumstances or background information which will help us to interpret some ambiguous answers. A good thumbnail will also aid your recall, if necessary.