WLS Codebooks

Note: Codebooks contain frequency data from the private data release. For some variables, these differ from the frequencies in the public release. Variables that differ between the public and private versions include "(not available on public release)" as part of the variable description, or a note indicating the difference between the public and private versions.

Phone: Internet

HINET Internet Module

OVERVIEW 
               
The Internet module of the telephone interview includes items regarding the use
of personal computers and the Internet by the respondent and members of the
respondent's household.  Information about current or past household computer
ownership and current or past household Internet access is included in this
module.  Main topics of interest for respondents who have access to the
Internet from home include how long ago his or her household first got Internet
access, how much time he or she spends using the Internet from home, and
whether or not the respondent's spouse connects to the Internet from home.  To
gain a better understanding of why some respondents do not have a personal
computer or access to the Internet from home, some items within the module ask
the main reason why the respondent's household does not have these things.

Previous waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study did not include an Internet
module.  Although computer networks similar to the Internet existed much
earlier, the public version of the Internet became available in the 1990's.  At
the time of the 1992 WLS study, very few households had Internet access, and an
Internet module would have been impractical at that time.  As the Internet
continues to become a more popular tool for communication, entertainment,
financial management, and learning, understanding our respondents' computer and
Internet use trends can provide important insights about computer and Internet
use among the aging population.

In addition to obtaining information about computer and Internet use, the
Internet module will also be used as an experiment to test different wordings
of the same questions.  Five questions in this module have alternate wordings
and response choice orders.


NOTE: See cor902 in Appendix V for variable creation details.


BRIEF VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS

    AM001HE:		Is there currently a computer in the respondent's
   			household?

    AM002HE:		Was there a computer in the respondent's household in
    			the past five years?

    AM003HE-AM004HE:	Main reason that the respondent's household does not
    			have a computer.

    AM005HE:		Did anyone in the respondent's household use the
    			computer to connect to the Internet?

    AM006RE:		Did the respondent use the computer to connect to the
	    		Internet?

    AM007RE:		Did the respondent use the computer to do anything
	    		besides use the Internet?

    AM008HE-AM009HE:	Main reason that the respondent's household no longer
    			has a computer.

    AM010HE:		Does anyone in the respondent's household use the
    			Internet from home?

    AM011HE:		Does the respondent use the computer for anything
    			besides the Internet?

    AM012HE:		Did the respondent's household ever have access to the
    			Internet from home?

    AM013HE-AM014HE:	Main reason that the respondent's household does not
    			have Internet access.

    AM015HE-AM016HE:	Main reason that the respondent's household no longer
    			has Internet access.

    AM017HE:		Century month when respondent's household first obtained
    			Internet access.

    AM020RE:		Does the respondent ever use the Internet from home?

    AM021RE:		Does the respondent ever use the computer from home?

    AM022RE:		Estimated time per week that the respondent spends
    			connected to the Internet.

    AM023SP:		Does the respondent's spouse use the Internet from home?

    AM024SP:		Does the respondent's spouse ever use the computer from
    			home?

SUMMARY VARIABLES

    AMS01RE:		Fluflag - sampled at 50%.

    AMS02RE:		Dichotomous variable - the respondent has ever had a
    			computer.

    AMS04HE:		Dichotomous variable - the respondent has ever had
    			access to the Internet.

    AMS06HE:		Dichotomous variable - Form of the question.

    AMS07HE:		Dichotomous variable - Form of responses.

am001he: Is there a computer, desktop or laptop, in the your household that someone uses?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z100

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-3	REFUSED	1	4	5
1	YES	1461	1751	3212
2	NO	325	317	642

am002he: If you do not currently have a computer or laptop, has there been a computer in the your household in the last five years that someone used?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z110

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-3	REFUSED	0	1	1
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM001HE=1	1625	1903	3528
1	YES	16	31	47
2	NO	146	137	283

am003he: What is the main reason your household does not have a computer?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z130, h_z140

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-3	REFUSED	0	1	1
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0 OR AM002HE=1	1641	1934	3575
1	WOULD NOT FIND IT USEFUL	66	54	120
2	IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE	13	16	29
3	WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE IT	24	16	40
4	CAN USE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE	20	23	43
5	OTHER (SPECIFY)	23	28	51

Note: This variable combines responses from both h_z130 and h_z140. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two wordings and order responses of the questions. See also am004he.

am004he: Other specified reason why Graduate Spouse Respondent's household does not have a computer.

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: c_h_z130, c_h_z140
*NOT AVAILABLE ON PUBLIC RELEASE*

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM003HE NE 5	1764	2044	3808
1	PLAN TO GET ONE/HAVE NOT YET	2	4	6
2	NO INTEREST/DON'T WANT	12	15	27
4	TIME CONSTRAINTS	3	4	7
5	SECURITY RISK	1	0	1
6	SOME OTHER REASON	2	4	6
15	SPOUSE OR OTHER HH MEMBER CITED AS REASON	3	1	4

am005he: Did anyone in the household use the computer to connect to the Internet from home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z150

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM002HE NE 1	1771	2041	3812
-1	DON'T KNOW	0	1	1
1	YES	10	15	25
2	NO	6	15	21

am006re: Did you use this computer to connect to the Internet from home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z160

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM002HE NE 1	1771	2041	3812
1	YES	5	7	12
2	NO	11	24	35

am007re: If you did not use the computer at home to connect to the Internet, did you use the computer to do anything else?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z170

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM002HE NE 1, AM009RE=1	1776	2048	3824
1	YES	3	7	10
2	NO	8	17	25

am008he: What is the main reason your household does not have a computer anymore?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z190, h_z200

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM002HE NE 1	1771	2041	3812
1	WOULD NOT FIND IT USEFUL	6	2	8
2	IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE	1	3	4
3	WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE IT	3	4	7
4	CAN USE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE	2	6	8
5	OTHER (SPECIFY)	4	14	18
6	(VOLUNTEERED) COMPUTER USER NO LONGER IN HOUSEHOLD	0	2	2

Note: This variable combines responses from both h_z190 and h_z200. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two wordings and order responses of the questions. See also am009he,

am009he: Other specified reason why graduate spouse's household does not have a computer anymore.

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: c_h_z190, c_h_z200
*NOT AVAILABLE ON PUBLIC RELEASE*

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM008HE NE 5	1783	2058	3841
1	PLAN TO GET ONE/HAVE NOT YET	1	3	4
2	NO INTEREST/DON'T WANT	0	2	2
4	TIME CONSTRAINTS	1	1	2
5	SECURITY RISK	1	1	2
6	SOME OTHER REASON	0	1	1
14	TEMPORARILY DISCONNECTED	1	2	3
15	SPOUSE OR OTHER HH MEMBER CITED AS REASON	0	3	3
16	DISSATISFACTION WITH COMPUTER/INTERNET WHEN PREVIOUSLY HAD IT	0	1	1

am010he: Do you or anyone else in the household connect to the Internet from home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z210

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-3	REFUSED	1	1	2
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AM001HE NE 1	326	321	647
-1	DON'T KNOW	4	2	6
1	YES	1327	1636	2963
2	NO	129	112	241

am011re: If no one uses the computer in your home to connect to the Internet, do you ever use the computer for anything else?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z220

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AM016HE=1	1653	1957	3610
1	YES	55	54	109
2	NO	79	61	140

am012he: If no one uses the computer in your home to connect to the Internet, has your household ever had access to the Internet from home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z230

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM010HE=1	1726	2018	3744
-1	DON'T KNOW	3	1	4
1	YES	15	18	33
2	NO	43	35	78

am013he: What is the main reason your household does not have access to the Internet?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z250, h_z260

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM012HE=1	1741	2036	3777
1	WOULD NOT FIND IT USEFUL	18	4	22
2	IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE	5	3	8
3	WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE IT	9	4	13
4	CAN USE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE	4	8	12
5	OTHER (SPECIFY)	10	17	27

Note: This variable combines responses from both h_z250 and h_z260. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two wordings and order responses of the questions. See also am014he.

am014he: Other specified reason why graduate spouse's household does not have access to the Internet.

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: c_h_z250, c_h_z260
*NOT AVAILABLE ON PUBLIC RELEASE*

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM013HE NE 5	1777	2055	3832
1	PLAN TO GET ONE/HAVE NOT YET	2	3	5
2	NO INTEREST/DON'T WANT	3	3	6
4	TIME CONSTRAINTS	2	2	4
5	SECURITY RISK	0	1	1
6	SOME OTHER REASON	1	2	3
7	PROBLEM	1	0	1
13	INTERNET - DON'T THINK THAT THE COMPUTER/EQUIPMENT WOULD SUPPORT IT	1	2	3
15	SPOUSE OR OTHER HH MEMBER CITED AS REASON	0	4	4

am015he: What is the main reason your household does not have access to the Internet anymore?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z280, h_z290

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM012HE NE 1	1772	2054	3826
-1	DON'T KNOW	1	0	1
1	WOULD NOT FIND IT USEFUL	4	0	4
2	IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE	5	4	9
3	WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE IT	0	4	4
4	CAN USE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE	0	5	5
5	OTHER (SPECIFY)	5	5	10

Note: This variable combines responses from both h_z280 and h_z290. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two wordings and order responses of the questions. See also am016he.

am016he: Other specified reason graduate spouse's household does not have access to the Internet anymore.

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: c_h_z280, c_h_z290
*NOT AVAILABLE ON PUBLIC RELEASE*

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM015HE NE 5	1782	2067	3849
1	PLAN TO GET ONE/HAVE NOT YET	0	1	1
5	SECURITY RISK	1	1	2
13	INTERNET - DON'T THINK THAT THE COMPUTER/EQUIPMENT WOULD SUPPORT IT	2	3	5
14	TEMPORARILY DISCONNECTED	1	0	1
16	DISSATISFACTION WITH COMPUTER/INTERNET WHEN PREVIOUSLY HAD IT	1	0	1

am017he: Century month graduate spouse's household first got Internet access.

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z310_a, h_z320_a, h_z310_b, h_z320_b, h_z330_a, h_z340_a, h_z330_b, h_z340_b, adate
Revisions: Updated 10/07

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-4	NOT ASCERTAINED	7	2	9
-3	REFUSED	0	1	1
-2	Inappropriate INAP, AM010HE NE 1, adate MISSING	524	502	1026
-1	DON'T KNOW	25	77	102
894 - 1139		252	305	557
1140 - 1178		241	308	549
1179 - 1199		247	301	548
1200 - 1220		250	315	565
1221 - 1267		241	261	502

Note: This variable is reported in century months since January 1, 1900. See Appendix O - COR607 Century Months for more information.

Year on public release.

Note: Top and bottom-coded on public release.

am020re: Do you, yourself, ever use the Internet from home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z350

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-4	NOT ASCERTAINED	2	1	3
-3	REFUSED	0	1	1
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AM010HE NE 1	460	436	896
-1	DON'T KNOW	2	2	4
1	YES	1039	1407	2446
2	NO	284	225	509

am021re: Do you, yourself, ever use the computer or laptop in your home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z360

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-4	NOT ASCERTAINED	2	1	3
-3	REFUSED	0	1	1
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AM020RE=1	1499	1843	3342
1	YES	62	61	123
2	NO	224	166	390

am022re: Number of minutes graduate spouse spends per week using the Internet from home, including using e-mail, the web, chat rooms, and any instant messaging.

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z370_a, h_z370_b

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-4	NOT ASCERTAINED	2	1	3
-3	REFUSED	1	1	2
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AM020RE NE 1	746	664	1410
-1	DON'T KNOW	7	11	18
0 - 60		249	395	644
70 - 180		227	381	608
200 - 420		228	303	531
480 - 1200		286	256	542
1260 - 5040		41	60	101

Note: Top and bottom-coded on public release.

Note: All responses that were reported in hours have been recoded to minutes.

am023sp: Does your spouse ever use the Internet from home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z390

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-4	NOT ASCERTAINED	2	1	3
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM010HE NE 1, NO SPOUSE	1140	1252	2392
1	YES	549	643	1192
2	NO	96	176	272

am024sp: Does your spouse ever use the computer in your home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z400

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-5	PARTIAL INTERVIEW	21	10	31
-4	NOT ASCERTAINED	2	1	3
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, AMS01RE=0, AM023SP=1, NO SPOUSE	1689	1895	3584
-1	DON'T KNOW	1	0	1
1	YES	34	28	62
2	NO	61	148	209

ams01re: Is the graduate spouse in the 50% subsample for computer and internet usage details?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: fluflag

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
0	NOT IN SAMPLE, FLUFLAG=0	925	1032	1957
1	IN SAMPLE, FLUFLAG=1	883	1050	1933

ams02he: Summary: Has R ever had a computer in his/her household?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: AM001HE, AM002HE, AMS01RE

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, SEE CODEBOOK	185	163	348
0	R has NEVER had a computer	146	137	283
1	R has had a computer in household	1477	1782	3259

ams04he: Summary: Has R ever had access to Internet from home?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: AM005HE, AM010HE, AM012HE

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, SEE CODEBOOK	409	363	772
0	R NEVER had access to the internet	47	50	97
1	R HAS had access to the internet	1352	1669	3021

ams06he: Did the graduate spouse answer a question about computer or internet use stoppage that contained the word 'would'?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z130 if h_z140 h_z190 h_z200 h_z250 h_z260 h_z280 h_z290 h_z310_a h_z330_a

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, SEE CODEBOOK	247	217	464
0	WOULD does not appear in the question	785	903	1688
1	WOULD does appear in the question	776	962	1738

Note: This variable summarizes an experimental condition that was tested on five questions administered in the survey. Two different wordings of the same question were tested, one containing the word "would", and the other not containing "would".

For example h_z130: What would you say is the main reason that your household does not have a computer?; h_z140: What is the main reason that your household does not have a computer?

ams07he: Which order of responses did graduate spouse receive in his or her questions?

Data source: Graduate Spouse Respondent Collected in: 2004 Mode: phone
Source variables: h_z130 h_z140 h_z190 h_z200 h_z250 h_z260 h_z280 h_z290

		Frequencies
Value	Label	Male	Female	Total
-2	INAPPROPRIATE INAP, SEE CODEBOOK	1572	1852	3424
0	NOT the original order of responses	119	104	223
1	The original order of responses	117	126	243

Note: This variable summarizes an experimental condition that was tested on four questions administered in the survey. Two different orders of the same responses were tested

For ams07he=0 the response order is: you don't think you would find it useful, you think that it's too expensive, you don't think you would know how to use it, you can use it somewhere else, other

For ams07he=1 the response order is: you don't think you would know how to use it, you can use it somewhere else, you don't think you would find it useful, you think that it's too expensive, othe

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