Retention and Reasons for Non-Interview

Retention and Reasons for Non-Interview

 

Reasons for Noninterview

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.

User Notes

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 Table 1. 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 1. Constructed & Raw Coding Categories for the Reason for Noninterview Variables

    Cohort, Code, & Survey Years
Constructed   Older Men
Young Men
Category Raw Coding Category a Code Years b Code Years
CAN'T LOCATE "Unable to locate [contact] R - reason not specified" [0] All [1] All
  "[Unable to locate R] - mover - no good address" [3] All [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)" c [1] All [2] All
  "[Unable to locate R] - mover - good address given but unable to obtain interview after repeated attempts, etc." [2] All [3] All
  "[Unable to locate R] - nonmover - unable to obtain interview after repeated attempts, etc." [4] All [5] All
  "Temporarily absent" [5] All [6] All
  "Other" [9] All [11] All
REFUSAL "Refusal" [7] All [9] All
  "Congressional refusal" [13] 1983 -- --
OUT OF SCOPE "In armed forces" [11] 1978-83 [7] All
  "Institutionalized" [6] All [8] All
  "Moved outside U.S. (other than armed forces)" [12] 1978-83 [13] 1978-81
DECEASED "Deceased" [8] All [10] All
DROPPED "Non-interview for two years, R dropped from sample" [10] 1968-83 [12] 1969-81
 
a Specific instructions to Census interviewers on use of these coding categories can be found in the cohort-specific Interviewer's Reference Manuals.
b 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.
c 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. Reasons for Noninterview: Older Men 1966-83

      Reason for Noninterview
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 a
1967 4744 276 44 65 107 0 60 a
1968 4648 372 55 25 159 1 132 a
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
 
Note: Table 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.
a Dropped from the sample because of two consecutive noninterviews was added as a coding category in 1969.

Table 3. Reasons for Noninterview by Race: Older Men 1967-83

    Reason for Noninterview
  Total Not
Interviewed
Can't Locate Interview
Impossible
Refusal Out of Scope Deceased Dropped
Survey Year Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black
1967 198 78 23 21 42 23 94 13 0 0 39 21 a a
1968 262 110 25 30 16 9 135 24 0 1 86 46 a a
1969 459 180 25 17 52 25 207 42 7 6 154 80 14 10
1971 584 261 11 22 30 18 257 48 9 8 251 148 26 17
1973 732 337 22 28 14 8 292 55 9 5 356 211 39 30
1975 889 399 11 15 20 5 329 61 9 4 471 270 49 44
1976 1079 454 9 4 34 5 440 78 9 5 530 311 57 51
1978 1261 540 10 8 22 14 505 86 20 10 636 368 68 54
1980 1412 607 5 5 7 3 536 90 23 9 765 441 76 59
1981 1523 665 0 4 10 3 580 107 17 9 828 479 88 63
1983 1667 720 2 2 10 3 585 102 14 12 963 535 93 66
 
Note: Table 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.
a Dropped from the sample because of two consecutive noninterviews was added as a coding category in 1969.

Table 4. Reasons for Noninterview: Young Men 1966-81

      Reason for Noninterview
Survey Year Total Interviewed Total Not
Interviewed
Can't Locate Interview
Impossible
Refusal Out of Scopea Deceased Dropped
1966 5225 0 0 0 0 0 0 b
1967 4790 435 47 45 66 263 14 b
1968 4318 907 68 91 136 588 24 b
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
 
Note: Table based on R00644., R01169., R01751., R02342., R03059., R03925., R04130., R04389., R05480., R05967., and R06835.
a 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.
b 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. Reasons for Noninterview by Race: Young Men 1967-81

    Reason for Noninterview
  Total Not
Interviewed
Can't Locate Interview
Impossible
Refusal Out of Scopea Deceased Dropped
Survey Year Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black Non-
Black
Black
1967 310 125 21 26 30 15 50 16 200 63 9 5 b b
1968 632 275 30 38 56 35 108 28 424 164 14 10 b b
1969 811 381 55 58 50 34 148 42 515 217 22 13 21 17
1970 825 407 51 66 42 23 173 54 473 199 30 18 56 47
1971 789 449 52 54 51 38 212 69 359 182 36 23 79 83
1973 717 494 91 116 46 24 261 89 175 117 45 31 99 117
1975 725 523 82 111 30 17 326 112 118 93 52 37 117 153
1976 939 591 66 81 77 31 482 133 103 82 55 41 156 223
1978 1012 675 53 69 36 57 574 155 95 70 65 52 189 272
1980 1089 698 57 73 17 23 634 167 87 64 72 60 222 311
1981 1165 662 31 30 46 34 694 172 78 58 77 62 239 306
 
Note: Table based on R00023. (race), R00644., R01169., R01751., R02342., R03059., R03925., R04130., R04389., R05480., R05967., and R06835.
a 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.
b 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.