December 4, 1975 MEMO 005 Notes on the coding procedures used by the Wisconsin Survey Research Laboratory in coding the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study - 1975 MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY CODES This Appendix has two lists: (l) Major Field of Study List - the items in this list were obtained from college catalogs, and (2) Vocational, Apprenticeship Training, and Military Formal Schools List - the items in this list were obtained from vocational and business school catalogs and publications from the various branches of the military service. For items obtained from military publications, the branch of the service of the publication from which the item was obtained was indicated in parentheses. The coders were allowed to use any non-military code from either of these lists in coding responses to the non-military schooling questions (regular schooling - Q7b, Q8c, Q9c; vocational schooling - Q14b, Q15b). However, the Major Field of Study List was consulted first in coding responses to questions about regular schooling. The coders were allowed to use any code from either list in coding responses to military schooling questions (Q16e). However, the items obtained from publications from the branch of the service of which R was a member were consulted first. If a response was more specific than our codes, it was usually placed in a more general category by the following procedure. The catalogs were consulted to determine under which general category the specific response was listed (e.g., "business law" was found under Business, School of" (code 030), but not under "General business" (code 480). If the catalogs didn't provide an unambiguous answer, the coders made a judgement as to under which general category the specific response should be coded. The coders were instructed NOT to look at responses to any other questions in making these judgements. The following is a list of the codes given to some of the more common specific responses: CODE SPECIFIC RESPONSE OF X O01 - business accounting 007 - irrigation 030 - broker, business law, business administration 037 - audiometric technology 043 - family therapy, family counseling 079 - driver's education, community mental health, safety programs 082 - labor relations 099 - hematology 148 - sewing, interior decorating, floral designs, crafts 164 - ministry 310 - aviation mechanics 364 - IBM training, comptometer, grocery checker 384 - seamstress, tailor 4O6 - computer operation 424 - machine design 425 - surveying 480 - career development, basic professional indoctrination, career acceleration, or when there was a grouped answer of typing, business English, and various business skills 499 - hydraulics, nfs 502 - industrial design, instrument repair, relay technician 531 - sales, distribution 543 - product knowledge 599 - small motors 601 - nurse's aide 629 - business typing, filing, bookkeeping (when R learned a specific secretarial skill) 649 - legal secretary 664 - operator training, switchboard, long distance training, telephone equipment training 676 - railroads, truck driving 681 - waste water treatment operation 692 - paramedic 693 - industrial management [management takes precedence over a parti- cular field unless it is given elsewhere in the code under the specific field -- e.g., "office mid-management" (code 567) or "farm training and management" (code 457)] 704 - travel agency operation 705 - Dale Carnegie, speed reading, self-improvement courses 706 - iron worker RELIGION MASTER CODE The response "Friends" was coded 34 (Other Protestant - not listed here). The response "Quaker" was coded 76 (Quaker). Since these are titles for the same religion, all interviews with codes 34 or 76 should be checked and recoded so that Friends and Quakers are given the same code. Note that some R's who are coded 34 are not "Friends" but some other religion. COLS. 105 - 106; Q7a "Bachelor's degree, nfs" (code 89), "Associate degree, nfs" (code 92), and "Doctorate, nfs"(code 93) were used for those cases when a specific degree, certification, or diploma was given that is not offered as a code, and did not reoccur as a response frequently enough to merit an addition to the code. For example, a response of "an associate degree in electrical engineering" was coded 92 in order to reflect the level of R's degree. When "law degree" was given as a response, it was coded 48 - "J.D. - Doctor of Jurisprudence," the most common law degree. The code 00 - "other" most frequently represents a response of a field rather than a degree. For example, a response of "industrial technology" could not be coded since the level of the degree is not known. Other responses reflecting a career rather than a degree, such as mortician, dental hygiene, or medical technician, could not be coded, so they appear as 00's. Nurses who only gave "RN" as a response, rather than telling whether they had a BS or certificate, were coded 00, since their educational level could not be determined. COL. 247; Q16a The code 0 - "other" was given to the response "Berry Plan" since it is not clear how this response would fit in the present codes. COLS. 280-281; Q16j Occasionally there arose problems in translating R's stated rank into one of the military pay grades offered in the code. In such cases, the translation was made on the basis of phone calls to the respective military recruiter. COL. 344; Q19 On rare occasions, 8 - "Other" was checked, but the specific activity corresponded to one of the previous categories (1 - 7). In these cases, the response was coded as though the appropriate previous category had been checked. Examples of responses for which the code 8 - "other" was used are "on vacation" and "ill." COLS 350-351; Q20d,e The codes 13 (Did not want full-time work), 14 (Full-time work week under 35 hours), and 15 (It's part-time work, nfs) have nebulous distinctions. Which code was used depended on EXACTLY what R said. For example, nearly all respon- dents coded 15 had "It's part-time work" written for Q20d or 20e. The response "pregnant" was coded 12 (Too busy with housework, school, personal business, etc.). This was done to correspond to a similar strategy in Q26a where pregnancy was included under the personal, family code (01). COLS 362-363; Q21b Responses of "family obligations," "sick relative," or "maternity" were all coded as 09 (Too busy with housework, school, personal business, etc.). The response "leave of absence" was coded as 00 (Other) since R did not say WHY a leave of absence was taken. Once again, on those rare occasions where "00 - 0ther" was indicated on the interview, but the specified activity corresponded to one of the previous categories (01 - 09), the response was coded as though the appropriate previous category had been checked. COLS 373-379; Q22b When possible, any response of "other" was put back in one of the previous choices. For example, a college placement service was coded as though a private employment agency had been checked (code 1 in col 374 and then a 2 in col 379'. The code for other (l coded in col 379) was used for cases that didn't fit into any of the previously established categories. Some examples of the use of the "other" code are "the union," "looking at ads," and "checking the paper." COL 38O; Q22c When "other" was checked on the interview but the specific response corresponded to one of the previous categories, the response was coded as though the appropriate previous category had been checked. COLS 447-448; Q33F Many respondents indicated that there was something else involved when they worked under time pressure. It was decided that no more categories would be added to the code since the responses showed great diversity. When appropriate, the response to 33F was recoded as a 1 - yes in Q33A - 33D, if the response was exactly comparable to that time pressure. In most cases, this was impossible. For example, the response "faster use of the machine" may involve either 33C (faster physical movement) or 33D (faster thinking), or both. Consequently, these responses were coded 00 (Other). WSRL's coders wrote each such response on cards, all of which have been saved. Since these responses contain a wide range of responses, it was decided that the addition of any categories would depend upon tne future use of this question. COL 452; Q35 When "other" was checked on the interview, but the specific response corre- sponded to one of the previous categories, the response was coded as though the appropriate previous category had been checked. COLS 487-490; Q47a The responses indicating that R "likes the challenge of work" of "I like to keep my mind active" were coded as 21. COLS 500-503; Q50 If R indicated that retirement would enable him or her to be doing what was desired in ten years, this was coded as 12 (Financial/economic situation will allow it), since it was assumed that retirement meant that R would no longer be required to work for economic reasons alone. 32 "Financial/economic situation will prevent it) was coded when R said he or she couldn't afford to leave his or her present job. A response of "my present job is too secure" was also coded 32 since the economic insecurity of quitting prevented R from doing what he or she wanted to do. 32 was also used if R said "I must stay at my job to get my pension" since R needed economic security in the future. Frequently R said he or she would be doing what they wanted to do in ten years because "I like it." This response was coded 01 (I'll be doing that because I want to be doing that). COLS 518-519; Q54a When R said she was pregnant, it was coded 02 (taking care of home or family). COLS 655-704; Q77 If at Q77 R refused to answer any questions about their siblings, 9's (NA) were coded on the chart on page 24. If R would only tell how many siblings were still alive, but refused to give any other information, the chart was coded 9's (NA) through the number of siblings that were alive, and then 8's (Inap) for the rest of the chart. COL 756; Q88c Responses of "law degree" or "vet" were coded as 0 (other.) "Art degree" or "commercial art" also cannot be coded using available codes since R didn't say WHAT LEVEL these degrees would be. They are consequently coded 0 (other). DDS was coded 4, comparable to the PhD or MD. Two-year certificates were coded as 1 (None). Nursing school or nurse's training was coded 5 (Nursing - RN). However, if R said nursing license, it was considered as LPN training and coded 1 (None). COL 765; Q92 Two of the most common responses for which the code 0 (Other) was used were "business school" and "nurse's training". COLS 895-900; Q103 When R is self-employed, this question may be coded either 999995 (R is self- employed) or 000000 (None). This depends on what the interviewers had indicated in this question. COLS 1046-1097; Q117, 118, and 125 COLS 1100-1101, 11O3-1104; Q120, 121 If R said "something past high school, I don't care what," it was coded 77 (Don't know). If R just said "something past high school," it was coded 00 (Other). 00 (Other) was also used if R said "college or business school." When R was talking about a handicapped person and special schools, it was coded OO (Other). COLS 1102, 11O5; Q120a, 121a If R gave "BA" as a response here, the coder was instructed to go back to Q120 or 121 and revise it by coding the response 04 (college graduate). If R gave an area of study rather than a degree (e.g., technical field or engineering), it was coded 0 (Other). The response "as high as possible" was also coded 0 (Other). COLS 1246-1251; Q126 During the contingency check conducted by the WSRL coding staff, it was found that sometimes YES was checked by the interviewer when something othr than (WK) Working was checked in Q19 and NO was checked in Q20. In such cases, the interview was coded as if the following responses had been made (these changes are made in red ink on the interview): Q126 was coded NO, Q126a was coded YES, and the month of the interview was placed in Q126b.