Retention and Reasons for Non-Interview | National Longitudinal Surveys

Reasons for non-interview
Sample representativeness and attrition

Reasons for non-interview

A cumulative 'Reason for Noninterview' variable was created by CHRR for the full sample of respondents in each cohort. This created variable is a combination of: (1) the noninterview reasons provided by Census for the subset of respondents designated as eligible for interview in that survey year and (2) the reason for noninterview assigned during a previous survey to out-of-scope respondents. Instructions to interviewers on how to code the reason a respondent was not interviewed appear within the cohort-specific Interviewer's Reference Manuals.

The set of noninterview coding categories present during the initial survey years of each cohort was supplemented over the years with additional reasons for noninterview, and the meaning of existing categories was refined. For each cohort, Table 1 presents the raw coding categories and specifies the survey years during which each category was utilized.

In addition to the cumulative 'Reason for Noninterview' variable, the 1990 resurvey of Older Men data include two noninterview variables which reflect the reasons for noninterview for just those respondents for whom interviews were attempted that year. R06014. provides the reason for noninterview for sample persons with whom an interview was attempted, and R07114. provides the reason for noninterview of the Older Men respondent's widow. The cumulative 1990 variable R06014.01 provides the reason for noninterview for all Older Men respondents and is comparable to the single variable included in the other interview years.

Important information: 'Reason for Noninterview' variables

The 'Reason for Noninterview' variables in the 1990 Older Men survey are constructed in a different manner than in other years. Because the survey included widows, as well as proxies for both living and deceased sample members and their widows, the coding categories were altered to reflect the different types of refusals by those other than the original sample member. Additionally, attempts were made to interview institutionalized respondents, a significant change from previous years. Finally, the 1990 reason for noninterview variables cannot be used to identify deceased sample members. Researchers who wish to identify all respondents known to be deceased as of the 1990 interview should use the variable "Age of R at Death Calculated from 90 Interview & Date of Birth" (R07075.). All respondents with a positive value for this variable, as well as the 33 respondents with a value of -127 (don't know), were deceased at the time of the 1990 interview.

The reason for noninterview coding categories depicted in the tables below were constructed from the raw coding categories as shown in Tables 1a and 1b. For example, the conceptual category "can't locate" is the sum of codes "0" and "3" for the Older Men and codes "1" and "4" for the Young Men. Tables 2 through 5 depict the number of respondents in each cohort not interviewed by survey year, reason, and race. Additional detail on nonresponse rates and numbers by age in 1966 for the Older Men and Young Men cohorts is presented in Parsons (1987a, 1987b).

Table 1a. Constructed and raw coding categories for the 'Reason for Noninterview' variables: Older Men
Constructed Category	Raw Coding Category Note 1a.1	Code	Survey Years Note 1a.2
CAN'T LOCATE	"Unable to locate [contact] R - reason not specified"	[0]	All
CAN'T LOCATE	"[Unable to locate R] - mover - no good address"	[3]	All
INTERVIEW IMPOSSIBLE	"[Unable to locate R] - mover - good address given but interview impossible to obtain ("moved to Germany or "lives too far from PSU" - distance too great)" Note 1a.3	[1]	All
	"[Unable to locate R] - mover - good address given but unable to obtain interview after repeated attempts, etc."	[2]	All
	"[Unable to locate R] - nonmover - unable to obtain interview after repeated attempts, etc."	[4]	All
	"Temporarily absent"	[5]	All
	"Other"	[9]	All
REFUSAL	"Refusal"	[7]	All
REFUSAL	"Congressional refusal"	[13]	1983
OUT OF SCOPE	"In armed forces"	[11]	1978-83
	"Institutionalized"	[6]	All
	"Moved outside U.S. (other than armed forces)"	[12]	1978-83
DECEASED	"Deceased"	[8]	All
DROPPED	"Non-interview for two years, R dropped from sample"	[10]	1968-83
Note 1a.1: Specific instructions to Census interviewers on use of these coding categories can be found in the cohort-specific Interviewer's Reference Manuals.
Note 1a.2: Due to the change in fielding procedures for the 1990 resurvey of the Older Men, noninterview coding categories are markedly different for that year and are excluded from this chart. "All years" thus refers to the 1966-83 surveys. Persons interested in the 1990 noninterview variables should reference R06014.00 and R06014.01.
Note 1a.3: Beginning in the 1978/1979 survey years when the separate "moved outside the U.S." coding category was added as a reason for noninterview, this "unable to locate" coding category was to exclude those respondents who had moved outside the U.S.

Table 1b. Constructed and raw coding categories for the 'Reason for Noninterview' variables: Young Men
Constructed Category	Raw Coding Category Note 1b.1	Code	Survey Years
CAN'T LOCATE	"Unable to locate [contact] R - reason not specified"	[1]	All
CAN'T LOCATE	"[Unable to locate R] - mover - no good address"	[4]	All
INTERVIEW IMPOSSIBLE	"[Unable to locate R] - mover - good address given but interview impossible to obtain ("moved to Germany or "lives too far from PSU" - distance too great)" Note 1b.2	[2]	All
	"[Unable to locate R] - mover - good address given but unable to obtain interview after repeated attempts, etc."	[3]	All
	"[Unable to locate R] - nonmover - unable to obtain interview after repeated attempts, etc."	[5]	All
	"Temporarily absent"	[6]	All
	"Other"	[11]	All
REFUSAL	"Refusal"	[9]	All
REFUSAL	"Congressional refusal"	--	--
OUT OF SCOPE	"In armed forces"	[7]	All
	"Institutionalized"	[8]	All
	"Moved outside U.S. (other than armed forces)"	[13]	1978-81
DECEASED	"Deceased"	[10]	All
DROPPED	"Non-interview for two years, R dropped from sample"	[12]	1969-81
Note 1b.1: Specific instructions to Census interviewers on use of these coding categories can be found in the cohort-specific Interviewer's Reference Manuals.
Note 1b.2: Beginning in the 1978/1979 survey years when the separate "moved outside the U.S." coding category was added as a reason for noninterview, this "unable to locate" coding category was to exclude those respondents who had moved outside the U.S.

Table 2. 'Reason for Noninterview': Older Men 1966-83
Survey Year	Total Interviewed	Total Not Interviewed	Can't Locate	Interview Impossible	Refusal	Out of Scope	Deceased	Dropped
1966	5020	0	0	0	0	0	0	Note 2.1
1967	4744	276	44	65	107	0	60	Note 2.1
1968	4648	372	55	25	159	1	132	Note 2.1
1969	4381	639	42	77	249	13	234	24
1971	4175	845	33	48	305	17	399	43
1973	3951	1069	50	22	347	14	567	69
1975	3732	1288	26	25	390	13	741	93
1976	3487	1533	13	39	518	14	841	108
1978	3219	1801	18	36	591	30	1004	122
1980	3001	2019	10	10	626	32	1206	135
1981	2832	2188	4	13	687	26	1307	151
1983	2633	2387	4	13	687	26	1498	159
Table 2 is based on R00635., R01120., R01156., R01639., R02547., R02693., R02862., R03739., R04076., R04488., and R05497.10. 'Reason for Noninterview' variables are available for 1990; because coding categories differ substantially from those in the 1967-83 surveys, noninterview data for 1990 are omitted here.
Note 2.1: Dropped from the sample because of two consecutive noninterviews was added as a coding category in 1969.

Table 3. 'Reason for Noninterview' by race: Older Men 1967-83
Survey Year	Race	Total Not Interviewed	Can't Locate	Interview Impossible	Refusal	Out of Scope	Deceased	Dropped
1967	Non-Black	198	23	42	94	0	39	Note 3.1
1967	Black	78	21	23	13	0	21	Note 3.1
1968	Non-Black	262	25	16	135	0	86	Note 3.1
1968	Black	110	30	9	24	1	46	Note 3.1
1969	Non-Black	459	25	52	207	7	154	14
1969	Black	180	17	25	42	6	80	10
1971	Non-Black	584	11	30	257	9	251	26
1971	Black	261	22	18	48	8	148	17
1973	Non-Black	732	22	14	292	9	356	39
1973	Black	337	28	8	55	5	211	30
1975	Non-Black	889	11	20	329	9	471	49
1975	Black	399	15	5	61	4	270	44
1976	Non-Black	1079	9	34	440	9	530	57
1976	Black	454	4	5	78	5	311	51
1978	Non-Black	1261	10	22	505	20	636	68
1978	Black	540	8	14	86	10	368	54
1980	Non-Black	1412	5	7	536	23	765	76
1980	Black	607	5	3	90	9	441	59
1981	Non-Black	1523	0	10	580	17	828	88
1981	Black	665	4	3	107	9	479	63
1983	Non-Black	1667	2	10	585	14	963	93
1983	Black	720	2	3	102	12	535	66
Table 3 is based on R00023. (race), R00635., R01120., R01156., R01639., R02547., R02693., R02862., R03739., R04076., R04488., and R05497.10. 'Reason for Noninterview' variables are available for 1990; because coding categories differ substantially from those in the 1967-83 surveys, noninterview data for 1990 are omitted here.
Note 3.1: Dropped from the sample because of two consecutive noninterviews was added as a coding category in 1969.

Table 4. 'Reason for Noninterview': Young Men 1966-81
Survey Year	Total Interviewed	Total Not Interviewed	Can't Locate	Interview Impossible	Refusal	Out of Scope Note 4.1	Deceased	Dropped
1966	5225	0	0	0	0	0	0	Note 4.2
1967	4790	435	47	45	66	263	14	Note 4.2
1968	4318	907	68	91	136	588	24	Note 4.2
1969	4033	1192	113	84	190	732	35	38
1970	3993	1232	117	65	227	672	48	103
1971	3987	1238	106	89	281	541	59	162
1973	4014	1211	207	70	350	292	76	216
1975	3977	1248	193	47	438	211	89	270
1976	3695	1530	147	108	615	185	96	379
1978	3538	1687	122	93	729	165	117	461
1980	3438	1787	130	40	801	151	132	533
1981	3398	1827	61	80	866	136	139	545
Table 4 is based on R00644., R01169., R01751., R02342., R03059., R03925., R04130., R04389., R05480., R05967., and R06835.
Note 4.1: Large numbers of Young Men remained out-of-scope for interviewing in 1967-71 due to enlistment in the Armed Forces. A separate out-of-scope coding category, "moved outside the U.S.," was added in 1978. Respondents who could not be interviewed in 1967-76 because their residence--either within or outside of the U.S--was too far away were coded within the "interview impossible" category. Out-of-scope counts for pre-1978 survey years thus may be understated.
Note 4.2: Respondents who had been noninterviews for two consecutive survey years due to reasons other than refusal or death were eliminated from the eligible sample beginning with the 1969 interview.

Table 5. 'Reason for Noninterview' by race: Young Men 1967-81
Survey Year	Race	Total Not Interviewed	Can't Locate	Interview Impossible	Refusal	Out of Scope	Deceased	Dropped
1967	Non-Black	310	21	30	50	200	9	Note 5.2
1967	Black	125	26	15	16	63	5	Note 5.2
1968	Non-Black	632	30	56	108	424	14	Note 5.2
1968	Black	275	38	35	28	164	10	Note 5.2
1969	Non-Black	811	55	50	148	515	22	21
1969	Black	381	58	34	42	217	13	17
1970	Non-Black	825	51	42	173	473	30	56
1970	Black	407	66	23	54	199	18	47
1971	Non-Black	789	52	51	212	359	36	79
1971	Black	449	54	38	69	182	23	83
1973	Non-Black	717	91	46	261	175	45	99
1973	Black	494	116	24	89	117	31	117
1975	Non-Black	725	82	30	326	118	52	117
1975	Black	523	111	17	112	93	37	153
1976	Non-Black	939	66	77	482	103	55	156
1976	Black	591	81	31	133	82	41	223
1978	Non-Black	1012	53	36	574	95	65	189
1978	Black	675	69	57	155	70	52	272
1980	Non-Black	1089	57	17	634	87	72	222
1980	Black	698	73	23	167	64	60	311
1981	Non-Black	1165	31	46	694	78	77	239
1981	Black	662	30	34	172	58	62	306
Table 5 is based on R00023. (race), R00644., R01169., R01751., R02342., R03059., R03925., R04130., R04389., R05480., R05967., and R06835.
Note 5.1: Large numbers of Young Men remained out-of-scope for interviewing in 1967-71 due to enlistment in the Armed Forces. A separate out-of-scope coding category, "moved outside the U.S.," was added in 1978. Respondents who could not be interviewed in 1967-76 because their residence--either within or outside of the U.S--was too far away were coded within the "interview impossible" category. Out-of-scope counts for pre-1978 survey years thus may be understated.
Note 5.2: Respondents who had been noninterviews for two consecutive survey years due to reasons other than refusal or death were eliminated from the eligible sample beginning with the 1969 interview.

Sample representativeness and attrition

The retention rate for the Older Men as of the 1983 survey was 52.5 percent, or 2,633 of the original 5,020 respondents. In 1990, 41.5 percent or 2,092 of the original respondents completed an interview, along with 1,341 widows and 865 other next-of-kin; some information was obtained about 85.6 percent of the cohort members. The retention rate for the Young Men as of the final 1981 survey was 64.9 percent, or 3,398 of the original 5,225 respondents. Retention rate is defined as the percent of base year respondents who were interviewed in any given survey year; included in the calculations are deceased and other out-of-scope respondents (see Table 1 for definitions).

An analysis of selected characteristics of respondents interviewed in the tenth year samples of the Original Cohorts found that noninterviews had not seriously distorted the sample representativeness of any of the cohorts for the characteristics studied (Rhoton 1984). A second analysis of differential attrition among wealthy and non-wealthy subsamples of each of the four Original Cohorts found that non-wealthy respondents of each cohort showed a consistent tendency toward greater attrition (Rhoton and Nagi 1991). Among the three younger cohorts, almost all of the difference between wealthy and non-wealthy subsamples is accounted for by attrition reasons other than the death of the respondent.

In Tables 6a and 6b, the racial composition of interviewed respondents is presented for the base survey year (1966) and the most recent interview year for which data are available. These tables also provide information on numbers of deceased respondents by race.

Table 6a. Cohort characteristics by race: Older Men 1966 and 1990
Race Note 6a.1	# of Interviewed Respondents		Racial Composition		Retention, 1990 as % of 1966	Number of Deaths as of 1990 Note 6a.2
Race Note 6a.1	1966	1990	1966	1990	Retention, 1990 as % of 1966	Number of Deaths as of 1990 Note 6a.2
Non-Black	3600	1603	71.7%	76.6%	44.5%	1807
Black	1420	489	28.3%	23.4%	34.4%	886
Note 6a.1: See the Race, Ethnicity and Nationality section of this guide for details on race classifications. Respondent totals in this table are based on R00023. for the Older Men.
Note 6a.2: Numbers are derived from R07075. for the Older Men.

Table 6b. Cohort characteristics by race: Young Men 1966 and 1981
Race Note 6b.1	# of Interviewed Respondents		Racial Composition		Retention, 1981 as % of 1966	Number of Deaths as of 1981 Note 6b.2
Race Note 6b.1	1966	1981	1966	1981	Retention, 1981 as % of 1966	Number of Deaths as of 1981 Note 6b.2
Non-Black	3787	2622	72.5%	77.2%	69.2%	77
Black	1438	776	27.5%	22.8%	54.0%	62
Note 6b.1: See the Race, Ethnicity and Nationality section of this guide for details on race classifications. Respondent totals in this table are based on R00023. for the Young Men.
Note 6b.2: Numbers are derived from R06835. for the Young Men.

Finally, Tables 7 and 8 present the number of interviews completed by respondents, broken down by race. In these tables, the "number who completed" column shows how many respondents completed exactly that number of surveys. The "cumulative %" column shows a cumulative total percent of those completing at least a given number of surveys rather than a percentage of those completing an exact number of surveys.

Table 7. Number of interviews completed out of 13 survey years by race: Older Men 1966-90
Number of Surveys Note 7.1	All Respondents		Non-Black Respondents		Black Respondents
Number of Surveys Note 7.1	Number who completed	Cumulative %	Number who completed	Cumulative %	Number who completed	Cumulative %
13	1601	31.9	1223	34.0	378	26.6
12	944	50.7	657	52.2	287	46.8
11	316	57.0	223	58.4	93	53.4
10	174	60.5	115	61.6	59	57.5
9	240	65.2	163	66.1	77	63.0
8	280	70.8	200	71.7	80	68.6
7	201	74.8	151	75.9	50	72.1
6	233	79.5	164	80.4	69	77.0
5	230	84.0	151	84.6	79	82.5
4	267	89.4	169	89.3	98	89.4
3	216	93.7	155	93.6	61	93.7
2	169	97.0	118	96.9	51	97.3
1	149	100.0	111	100.0	38	100.0
Total	5020		3600		1420
Table 7 is based on R00635.01, R01120.01, R01156.01, R01629.01, R02541.01, R02689.01, R02857.01, R03739.10, R04076.10, R04488.10, R05496.10, and R06015.90. The number of respondents completing 13 interviews does not represent the total for whom data are available. The 1990 resurvey collected information about deceased respondents from widows or other next-of-kin.
Note 7.1: Surveys completed in any year, not necessarily consecutive survey years.

Table 8. Number of interviews completed out of 12 survey years by race: Young Men 1966-81
Number of Surveys Note 8.1	All Respondents		Non-Black Respondents		Black Respondents
Number of Surveys Note 8.1	Number who completed	Cumulative %	Number who completed	Cumulative %	Number who completed	Cumulative %
12	2084	39.9	1692	44.7	392	27.3
11	611	51.6	440	56.3	171	39.2
10	486	60.9	355	65.7	131	48.3
9	354	67.7	249	72.2	105	55.6
8	364	74.6	268	79.3	96	62.2
7	254	79.5	167	83.7	87	68.3
6	224	83.8	127	87.1	97	75.0
5	194	87.5	96	89.6	98	81.8
4	143	90.2	75	91.6	68	86.6
3	177	93.6	98	94.2	79	92.1
2	190	97.2	126	97.5	64	96.5
1	144	100.0	94	100.0	50	100.0
Total	5225		3787		1438
Table 8 is based on R00645., R01169.10, R01751.10, R02343., R03059.10, R03925.10, R04130.10, R04390., R05468.10, R05967.10, and R06835.10.
Note 8.1: Surveys completed in any year, not necessarily consecutive survey years.