NSAF Survey Methods and Data Reliability

Report No. 1 in the 2002 NSAF Methodology Series

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Introduction

The National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) is a survey of the economic, health, and social characteristics of children, adults under the age of 65, and their families. NSAF data collection was conducted for the Urban Institute and Child Trends by Westat, a nationally renowned survey research firm. The survey was administered three times, in 1997, 1999, and 2002. In each round, interviews were conducted with over 40,000 families, yielding information on more than 100,000 persons under the age of 65. Data collection for the third round of the survey was conducted from February 2002 through October 2002.

The survey sample is representative of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population under the age of 65 in 13 states and the balance of the nation (figure 1).¹ The 13 focal states, or states selected for in-depth study, were selected for reasons related to how well they represented the nation as a whole on characteristics important to the goal of the survey. Collectively these 13 states account for over half of the U.S. population and represent a broad array of government programs, fiscal capacity, and demographic characteristics. As with virtually all household surveys, some important segments of the population (e.g., the homeless) could not be sampled because of their living arrangements and therefore are not included in the survey results. A small fraction of the sample consisted of "linguistically isolated" households, where neither English nor Spanish was spoken by any person within the household. Individuals in these living arrangements were not interviewed.²

Notes from this section

1. In rounds 1 and 2, Milwaukee was also designated as a study area in its own right, so for 1997 and 1999 data Wisconsin can be viewed as consisting of two study areas, Milwaukee and the balance of the state. In 2002, Milwaukee is not sampled as a separate study area but is incorporated as part of the statewide Wisconsin study area.

2. However, NSAF field procedures did allow for the use of proxy respondents or "facilitators" to interview sampled respondents who could not be interviewed in English or Spanish. There still was a loss of between 1 and 2 percent of the sample due to this barrier. From the interviewer notes, these were often Chinese-, Korean-, or Russianspeaking households.

Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

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