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.

1957 - Little's Subsample Survey

There are actually two 1957 surveys in the WLS data.  In April 1957,
Wisconsin seniors took a survey.  In October 1957, Professor Little followed
up with a 1/6 sample.  Later, Professor Sewell add another 1/6th sample of the 
April 1957 survey to Little's sample to form the WLS sample. Below is a 
citation and an excerpt of Little's work that explains the purpose and details 
of his follow-up survey.  

    Little, J. Kenneth.   September 1959.  "Explorations into the College 
    Plans and Experiences of High School Graduates: A State-Wide Inquiry." 
    University of Wisconsin, School of Education.

"In October and November, 1957, questionnaires were sent to the parents 
of the 5,675 graduates who were members of the "working sample." The 
purposes of this questionnaire were : (1) to learn whether the plans 
announced by the graduates in the spring had been followed or changed; 
and (2) to discover the desires and attitudes of parents regarding the 
education of their sons or daughters beyond high school, and about the 
value of college education in general. Replies were received from 2,780 
parents (48.9 per cent of the "working sample").

Since there was special interest in the parents of youth who had high 
potential for college training, an intensive effort was made to get 
complete coverage of the parents of this group. Graduates were 
considered to have high college potential if they ranked in the top 
one-fourth of their high school graduating class and also scored in the 
top one-fourth of Wisconsin high school seniors on the Henmon-Nelson 
Test of Mental Ability. By special follow-up procedures using mail, 
telephone, and personal visit, replies from 96.7 per cent of this group 
were obtained."


idsampq - idsoc57q    Original sample group and response rate
whoct57q              Who took the questionnaire?
actv57q               What is your child doing now?
edfl57q               Is your child attending school full-time or part-time?
edpas57q              Did you want post hs education for child?
edpv157q - edno857q   Reasons child is not attending post-hs education.
paradvq               Did you advise college?
pralgeq - prfrlngq    Child take alegebra, geometry, or foreign language?
fmwelthq              Family weatth compared to community?
prvlc1q - prvlc13q    Value of college


NOTE:  See Appendix A - COR000a for Recoding of 1957 questionnaires (8/18/62) 
       and COR336at3 for Location of 1957 raw data: Status of variables and 
       recommendations for 1983 recoding.

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