The Data File Documentation reports on the procedures and methodologies employed during the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 base year, first, and second follow-ups, with special emphasis on the second follow-up (2006). The document is designed to provide guidance for users of the restricted-use data as released in Electronic Codebook (ECB) format (NCES 2008346) and also contains information that will be valuable to users of the public-use Data Analysis System (DAS). Included in the documentation are the following: an overview of the study and its predecessor studies; an account of instrumentation and high school records (academic transcript) collection; documentation of the sample design, weighting, imputation, and design effects; a summary of the data collection methodology and results, including detailed response rates; a description of data preparation and processing activities including linkage to ancillary external data sets and creation of composite variables; and an overview of data file structure and contents. Numerous appendices supply a glossary of terms and a synopsis of the field test, and treat of topics such as cross-cohort comparison and occupational coding scheme crosswalks.
The Field Test report for the ELS:2002/04 second follow-up data collection can be found in Appendix C of the second follow-up data file documentation manual. Online Availability
