Basic Monthly Survey Methodology and Documentation Page
We refer to the computer software that runs the questionnaire as the instrument.
This chapter describes how the questions are selected for each interview, contents of each screen, methods of entering responses, and the uses of the special function keys (F1 through F10).
There are instructions for starting the interview program, for resuming a partially completed interview, and recovering from program errors.
The CPS instrument is broken into three sections known as the front, middle, and back. Chapter 2 deals with the front of the instrument. Chapter 3 covers the middle, the demographic questions and Chapter 4, the labor force questions. Chapter 5 describes the back of the instrument and Chapter 6 is a detailed discussion of non-interviews.
The interviewing program decides which questions to display, based on data input about the address, plus the information you enter about the household members.
For example, the labor force questions are not asked about anyone who is under 15 years of age.
You ask demographic questions the first time you interview a household to determine the composition of the household and the characteristics of its members. In later months, the instrument passes information forward for you to verify and correct if necessary. This is done through dependent interviewing.
Dependent interviewing is made possible by computers. (See Part B, Chapter 4 for a discussion of dependent interviewing.)
Throughout the program, each screen displays the question you will ask. It contains response options (if applicable), and information about what to do next. The computer fills appropriate proper names, pronouns, verbs, and reference dates into the text of the questions. Figure C1 below is a sample screen from the program.
Figure C1. Sample Data Entry Screen
>TENUR-scrn<
Are your living quarters...
READ ANSWER CATEGORIES
<1> Owned or being bought by you or someone in your household?
<2> Rented for cash?
<3> Occupied without payment of cash rent?
===>_
You have two types of on-screen instructions: general and specific. First, there is the constant line of codes that appears at the bottom of every screen. This line tells, in abbreviated form, what function key options are available to you within the instrument. Notice that these function keys work differently here than in the case management program. Section E of this chapter explains specific functions.
The specific instructions refer to items currently on the screen. These include messages such as:
A different type of message may appear on rare occasions, caused by a problem in the computer program. The message may contain an error number, or refer to a "run-time error". In this situation, the word ERROR refers to a problem in the computer, not to your entries.
If you see an ERROR message during an interview, the program will not continue normally. Do not continue to press keys; instead, follow the instructions for program error recovery in section 1.J of this chapter.
Most of the time, the computer displays just one item or question on each screen. In a few cases, several related items appear on the same screen. An example is the month, day, and year of someone's birth date, as illustrated in Figure C2.
For most items, you make an entry by pressing a number or letter, followed by <enter>. For a few of the questions, you type several words, such as the name of the respondent's employer or his/her job title or tasks, and press <enter> when finished typing the answer.
Frequently, the instrument displays a list of options, as illustrated in Figure C3. You select a key to press from this list, unless the respondent does not know the answer or refuses to give an answer.
When the options list shows digits, letters, or the names of other keys enclosed in brackets, type only the enclosed character(s), or press the indicated key. Do not type the brackets. The brackets are there to draw your attention to the material to enter.
Figure C2. More Than One Entry On The Same Screen
>BMON-scrn< What is (your/name's) date of birth?
(First, the month.) PREVIOUS ENTRY WAS: (birth month)
<1> January <5> May <9> September
<2> February <6> June <10> October
<3> March <7> July <11> November
<4> April <8> August <12> December
ENTER MONTH ===>__
>BDAY-scrn< <1-31> Day PREVIOUS ENTRY WAS: (birth day)
ENTER DAY ===>__
>BYEAR-scrn< <93-99> 1893 to 1899 PREVIOUS ENTRY WAS: (birth year)
<0092> 1900 to 1992
ENTER YEAR ===>__
If the respondent does not know the answer for a certain item, try to obtain an estimate by neutral probing. If you cannot, then press D to indicate "don't know."
Information to fill a "don't know" item sometimes turns up later in the interview (for example, the person who knows the answer may come home from work). In this case, you may be able to use the function keys to skip back to the item(s) and replace the D with a better answer.
If the respondent declines to answer a certain question despite your persuasive efforts, press R for "refused."
NOTE: You can enter D or R for most items. They are not always displayed on the screen, because they are only for situations where you cannot get a valid answer.
If you enter an unacceptable response, the computer beeps and TRY AGAIN appears. This happens, for example, if you press "3" when the only options shown on the screen are <1> for yes and <2> for no. It also happens if you enter a letter other than D or R when the screen shows a list of numeric responses.
When the computer says TRY AGAIN, erase your previous answer using the backspace key. Then type a new entry and press <enter>.
You can not leave an item blank. If you press <enter> without first typing a response, the instrument prompts you to TRY AGAIN. Type the response, then press <enter>.
When there is a long list of options (such as ethnic origin or income level), hand your job aid (flash card) booklet to the respondent. Ask him/her to tell you the number of the correct response.
Figure C3. Sample Screen With Options List
>ORIGI-scrn< What is (name's/your) origin or descent?
<1> German <12> Mexican
<2> Italian <14> Puerto Rican
<3> Irish <15> Cuban
<4> French <16> Central or South American (Hispanic Countries)
<5> Polish <17> Other Hispanic
<6> Russian <20> AfroAmerican (Black, Negro)
<7> English <26> Dutch
<8> Scottish <27> Swedish
<10> Mexican American <28> Hungarian
<11> Chicano <30> Another group not listed
<D> Don't Know
<R> Refused
===>__
When an open-ended question appears, type the answer, followed by <enter>. If there is a second blank line, press <enter> when you have no more information to type. Figure C4 illustrates a screen of this type.
Try to fill all the necessary information, without abbreviating, at the time of the interview. Once you have made an entry for every question and exited from the program, the interview is complete. You cannot go back into the program and edit the answers. (You can go back into partially completed interviews, however, as described in section 1.H of this chapter.)
The data entry field's for numeric items such as telephone number and social security number are set up with appropriate dashes and parentheses, as illustrated in Figure C5. In these fields, type only the digits, not the punctuation. The cursor skips automatically to the next space that you fill with a digit.
Figure C4. Sample Screen With Fill-In Items
>IO1DT< What (were/are) (your/his/her) usual activities or duties
at this job?
(for example: typing, keeping account books, filing,
selling cars, operating printing press, laying brick.)
===>________________________________________________________________
===>________________________________________________________________
Figure C5. Numeric Entry With Punctuation Filled In Advance
>SSN-scrn< What is (your/name's) Social Security
or Railroad Retirement number?
<D> Don't Know
<R> Refused
===>_________
The function keys allow you to do several useful things during the interview. For example, you can back up to a previous screen to correct an entry or add notes to explain an unusual response.
F1, F7 and F10 are the function keys you will use most frequently. The operation of each function key is described below.
F1 - BCK
SHIFT F1
F2 - FWD
SHIFT F2
F3 - JFwd
F4 - JBck
SHIFT F5 - Alt
F6 - Chg
F7 - Note
F8 - SkRet; F9 - SkFwd
F10 - SkFin
When you are ready to go to the door of a household for a personal visit, or dial the household for a telephone interview, it is time to start up the interview program.
In the next few seconds, messages flash by on the screen while the computer prepares for the interview. These are not important to you unless something goes wrong and the first screen of the questionnaire does not appear.
If that happens, write down what remains on the screen when this initial processing stops. (for example "missing meta files," "missing path, notes, or answer file," or "invalid disk drive.") If you are not able to re-start the interview, report the message(s) to your RO.
Typically, however, the first screen of the questionnaire appears within a few seconds. The computer is ready for you to proceed with the interview.
You may hear the term Rotation number used in association with CPS. In the CPS it determines if persons are eligible for certain questions, such as the earnings questions. In the CPS interivew your computer will make this determination for you.
Rotation number. The first digit of the segment number; for example, if the segment number is 3456, 3 is the rotation number.
At times, you will have to exit from the instrument even though you have only partially completed the interview. This happens, for example, when a respondent breaks off the interview for personal reasons, with or without an offer to continue later.
NOTE: Do not try to exit from the interview by shutting off the computer. If you do so, the partial information that you have collected so far will be lost. Further, your case management file will not be updated properly. This will prevent you from going back into this case to complete the interview.
Partially completed cases continue to appear on your case management main display, so you can select the case and resume the interview. Transmit partially completed cases to HQ only when:
1. the case is completed, or
2. the case remains incomplete at the time of your final transmission for the month.
When you complete the interview, the instrument places the interview files with the rest of your completed work. It is then included in your next transmission.
Do your best to complete all partial interviews. If you discover that you can not get more information from a household by closeout time, you can make a special entry in the interview program to transmit the partial data.
From your case management main display, highlight the case record and press F2 to begin the interview program.
On the first few screens, look for the "READY TO TRANSMIT" option, and select it. This will cause the partial information for the case to be sent to HQ in your next transmission. Make this selection only if you are certain that you can not get any more information.
When you have answered all questions, the computer exits the instrument, updates the case management file, and returns you to the CASIC main menu. Upon exit, the program also assesses the completion status of the case.
The computer moves data files for completed cases to the TRANSMIT directory where they are prepared to be sent to HQ during your next transmission.
It then deletes completed cases from your case management main display. If necessary you can still view case management records, and add case management notes, by using the case management FIND function. Chapter E-5 describes the use of this function.
Currently, you cannot re-enter the interview program and make changes to the data after you complete a case. If you are accustomed to editing paper questionnaires after leaving the household, you may at first feel uncomfortable with this procedure. However, many of the problems you might look for when editing are handled automatically by the computer.
Occasionally a problem in the computer program may prevent the interview from continuing in a normal way. The following types of problems may occur:
1. You may see a screen that contains only a DOS prompt (C> or something like it), which tells you that the interview program is no longer running.
2. You may find that the computer does not respond to entries of any kind from the keyboard. Although the screen appears normal, the screen does not change, and does not acknowledge your entries.
3. You may see an error message containing an error number and the words "run-time error." If, along with the error message, the computer prompts you with "<CR> to continue," ignore the prompt. Do not press <enter>. If you do, processing continues with updating of your case management data file. When an interview has crashed, updating the case management file introduces errors that may prevent you from getting back into the case.
In any of these situations, when the interview program will not go forward normally, you should re-boot the computer. Re-boot refers to either of two procedures: a "warm boot," or a "cold boot," as described below. Try a warm boot first, since it is faster and causes less wear on the computer. If it is not effective, try a cold boot.
When you re-boot the computer, the information collected so far in the current interview is lost. In program "crashes" such as these, the answers to previous questions are probably already erased by the same problem that caused the interview program to fail.
WARM BOOT instructions: If you have the computer on your hand or arm, lay it down on a flat surface. You will need to press three keys at the same time, which will require using both hands. While holding down the keys marked CTRL and ALT, press DEL. The computer runs its self-test routine, and then invites you to enter your password.
COLD BOOT instructions: Turn off the computer. Wait at least 30 seconds for the disk drive to stop spinning. Turn the computer back on; it should behave as it does when you turn it on at other times. Type your password to log in.
Select case management from the CASIC main menu. Re-select the same case you were interviewing, and resume (or if necessary re-start) the interview. If you cannot resume, use the troubleshooting instructions in Part E, Chapter 9 and notify your RO of the problem.
Occasionally you may get stuck in a loop of just a few questions. If the computer does not go to the next appropriate question, carefully check your answers to each item as you step through the loop once more. You may have answered "yes" to the "any more persons" question, for example. The computer continues to go through the loop until you erase that answer and enter "no." If correcting the item responses does not get you out, then you should re-boot the computer, as described above.
Do not use the CTRL-BREAK key combination to get out of a stuck interview, although someone may suggest this to you. This allows the end-of-interview processing of your case management file to occur, which you do not want if a program error terminated the interview.
Part E, CPS Computer Procedures contains more detailed information about your computer and how to use it.
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