The Adult Education Training and Education Survey (ATES) Pilot Study: Technical Report (NCES 2013-190)

As part of a larger inter-agency effort to develop new federal data on adults' education, training, and credentials for work, NCES developed and pilot-tested a set of survey items on industry-recognized certification, state licensure, and educational certificates. The pilot test was conducted as a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey, administered from September 2010 to January 2011. The pilot test concluded that the main item on certification and licensure provides a valid measure of these credentials, and that three additional items (on the credential provider, occupational field of the credential, and whether the credential is required for work) can be used to provide other key information about these credentials. The study also found that proxy respondents were able to answer basic questions about key credentials. The pilot test produced equivocal results about the measurement of subbaccalaureate educational certificates, leading to a recommendation for further work specifically on this type of credential.

This report includes estimates of the percentage of adults who have certifications, licenses, and certificates; however, this pilot study was undertaken for questionnaire and procedural development purposes only. The estimates from this report should not be cited as population estimates because the sample design and data collection procedures were not intended for that purpose, but rather to support the evaluation of questionnaire items.