Evaluation of the 1992 NALS Background Survey Questionnaire: An Analysis of Uses with Recommendations for Revisions

This report describes how social science researchers and other experts have analyzed data from the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) since the public release of the data in 1993 to serve a variety of educational, social policy and scientific purposes. The particular focus of the report pertains to researchers' uses of the English Background Questionnaire (EBQ) portion of the NALS. The data were gathered by surveying NALS data users about how they have used the EBQ data, their perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the EBQ, and their recommendations for changes to the EBQ. A content analysis of published research papers that have involved analyses of the EBQ data to determine how the data were used in these research analyses was also conducted. Finally, we drew upon the recommendations garnered by a series of focus groups conducted by the American Institutes for Research in 1998. After integrating these sources with our own analyses of the NALS data, we recommend several changes to the EBQ for future adult literacy assessments. These are as follows: (1) expand the questions pertaining to educational experiences including adult basic education and other nonformal types of educational experiences; (2) expand the section on social and political participation or move the current items to other areas and delete this section; (3) add an item on voter registration; (4) acquire more detailed information regarding work history, wages and parents' occupations; (5) expand the section pertaining to literacy practices; and (6) gather information on technological literacy practices.

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