Retention & Reasons for Noninterview

Reasons for Noninterview

A 'Reason for Noninterview' variable is constructed for each survey year (excluding 1979) in the NLSY79 and provides an explanation of why an interview could not be conducted or completed with a respondent. The cause of noninterview is assigned by the NORC interviewer to each respondent designated as a member of the eligible sample for a given survey year. Typical coding categories have included reasons such as an interview being refused by the respondent or by the respondent's parent, the respondent or family unit not being located, or the respondent being reported as deceased.

Beginning in the 1980s, two administrative categories were added. One reflected a decision by NORC not to attempt to interview certain sample members who were determined to be extremely difficult to interview. The second category indicates that, due to funding cutbacks, interviews would not be attempted with certain members of one or more of the NLSY79 subsamples. Thus, beginning in 1985, interviews ceased for 1,079 respondent members of the military subsample; each was permanently assigned a reason for noninterview of "military sample dropped." A second group of respondents, those belonging to the supplemental economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic sample, was similarly dropped from interviewing beginning with the 1991 survey. The target universe for each survey year--that is, the respondents whom NORC attempts to interview--thus includes all respondents interviewed in the initial survey year exclusive of those who were:

reported deceased at an earlier interview
dropped from the sample
judged to be extremely difficult to interview

Important Information

Reasons for noninterview may change for a given respondent between noninterview years, even if those years are contiguous. Some codes, such as "parent refusal/break off," have become virtually obsolete over time with the aging of the cohort. Other codes should be considered relatively permanent, such as those applied to the reported death of a respondent. (Users should be aware that false reports of death have been used to avoid being interviewed. NORC attempts to verify these reports by obtaining death certificate information or newspaper obituaries.)

The coding of deceased members of the two subsamples dropped from interviewing in 1985 and 1991 has not been handled consistently. Those respondents of the military sample reported deceased during the 1980-84 surveys, that is, those with a code of "65 - Deceased" on a 'Reason for Noninterview' variable, have been recoded, beginning in 1985, to "68 - Military Sample Dropped"; this recode occurred for four cases. Thus, the count of 1,079 reflects all members of the military subsample, both living and deceased, who were dropped from interviewing; however, this means that the cumulative count of total deceased respondents on any post-1984 'Reason for Noninterview' will be understated.

The 22 members of the supplemental economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic sample who had died prior to the dropping of the sample in 1991 were not similarly reclassified as dropped. The count of 1,621 for the economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic sample in the 1991 'Reason for Noninterview' variable reflects only the living members of the total 1,643 who were dropped; the 22 deceased members of the supplemental economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic subsample remain coded as deceased.

Table 3 presents the number of respondents not interviewed across survey years by sample type.

Table 3. Reasons for Noninterview by Sample Type: NLSY79 1980-2020

Key - C: Cross-sectional, S: Supplemental, M: Military

Survey Year	Total Not Interviewed			Reason for Noninterview
	Total Not Interviewed			Refusal			Can't Locate			Deceased			Other			Difficult Cases			Dropped¹
	C	S	M	C	S	M	C	S	M	C	S	M	C	S	M	C	S	M	C	S	M
1980	238	220	87	153	91	9	60	101	56	4	5	0	21	23	22	0	0	0	0	0	0
1981	219	187	85	133	71	16	30	64	20	15	14	0	41	38	49	0	0	0	0	0	0
1982	235	259	69	86	73	18	56	123	30	24	19	1	7	25	18	62	19	2	0	0	0
1983	209	202	54	103	94	23	43	63	18	27	26	4	15	14	8	21	5	1	0	0	0
1984	297	255	65	204	138	32	54	73	24	30	33	4	9	11	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
1985	360	338	1094	180	146	5	51	94	7	36	43	0	10	14	2	83	41	1	0	0	1079
1986	478	456	1097	284	230	10	78	115	7	43	51	1	14	22	0	59	38	0	0	0	1079
1987	573	527	1101	286	217	5	118	165	10	51	56	3	28	39	1	90	50	3	0	0	1079
1988	598	518	1105	335	248	4	107	128	13	56	68	3	43	36	4	57	38	2	0	0	1079
1989	540	442	1099	316	202	7	90	93	5	60	78	3	19	25	2	55	44	3	0	0	1079
1990	613	540	1097	385	269	8	101	139	6	67	82	3	23	28	1	37	22	0	0	0	1079
1991	555	1992	1099	316	182	9	97	99	6	75	65	4	8	13	1	59	12	0	0	1621	1079
1992	558	1993	1097	323	196	7	82	70	6	81	71	4	11	16	1	61	19	0	0	1621	1079
1993	574	1980	1099	338	191	11	57	62	3	90	83	4	12	10	1	77	13	1	0	1621	1079
1994	654	2017	1102	398	196	9	78	59	9	104	96	4	11	14	0	63	31	1	0	1621	1079
1996	820	2102	1105	486	216	6	86	87	11	128	109	5	22	23	1	98	46	3	0	1621	1079
1998	952	2208	1105	490	233	8	117	146	9	152	118	5	74	59	1	119	31	3	0	1621	1079
2000	1162	2352	1117	689	333	15	162	180	11	170	136	7	58	61	4	83	21	1	0	1621	1079
2002	1336	2503	1123	684	394	14	201	195	14	188	151	7	65	66	4	198	54	51	0	1621	1079
2004	1425	2477	1123	790	328	16	240	197	15	221	171	7	119	80	3	55	58	3	0	1621	1079
2006	1482	2433	1118	969	403	20	165	138	10	252	197	7	38	19	0	58	33	2	0	1643	1079
2008	1423	2387	1119	814	311	14	177	149	10	274	222	7	103	31	7	55	31	2	0	1643	1079
2010	1509	2487	1125	795	334	22	194	162	14	309	255	9	98	42	1	113	51	0	0	1643	1079
2012	1689	2564	1133	649	238	16	255	198	13	384	292	13	317	152	12	84	41	0	0	1643	1079
2014	1848	2635	1133	775	328	18	346	213	16	444	331	15	111	54	3	172	66	2	0	1643	1079
2016	1919	2714	1141	722	318	20	482	295	23	512	385	18	31	19	0	172	54	1	0	1643	1079
2018	1964	2708	1136	633	281	19	496	271	13	576	435	22	22	9	0	237	69	3	0	1643	1079
2020	2169	2837	1145	1010	487	29	185	94	9	659	502	24	80	49	3	235	62	1	0	1643	1079

¹Two groups of NLSY79 respondents have been dropped from interviewing: (1) 1,079 members of the 1,280 military subsample were dropped after the 1984 survey and (2) the 1,643 members of the supplemental economically disadvantaged, non-black/non-Hispanic subsample were dropped after the 1990 interview.

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Retention & Reasons for Noninterview