Current Population Survey, September 2002: Volunteer Supplement (ICPSR 3670)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The purpose of the 2002 Volunteer Supplement was to examine Americans' volunteer activities in the United States.

Study Design View help for Study Design

The 2002 Volunteer Supplement was conducted as part of the Current Population Survey, an ongoing data collection effort of the United States Census Bureau. The survey was administered to household members aged 15 years and older in the households that were in the exit round of the CPS sample rotation. Computer-assisted personal interviews and computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted during the period of September 15-21, 2002. Proxy respondents were allowed if attempts for self-responses were unsuccessful. Altogether, 159,434 respondents were interviewed for the 2002 Volunteer Supplement.

Sample View help for Sample

Sample households are selected by a multistage stratified statistical sampling scheme. A multistage probability sample was selected to represent the universe of approximately 56,000 households. The CPS sample was selected based on 1990 census information. The first stage of the 1990 sample design created 2,007 geographic areas called primary sampling units (PSUs) in the entire United States. These PSUs were grouped into strata within each state. Some of these PSUs formed strata by themselves and were in sample with certainty, which is referred to as self-representing. Of the remaining nonself-representing PSUs, one PSU was selected from each stratum with the probability of selection proportional to the population of the PSU. A total of 754 PSUs were selected for sample containing 2,121 counties, minor civil divisions, and independent cities. The second stage of the sample design selected housing units within these PSUs.

Approximately 72,000 housing units are assigned for interview each month, of which about 60,000 are occupied and thus eligible for interview. The remainder are units found to be destroyed, vacant, converted to nonresidential use, containing persons whose usual place of residence is elsewhere, or ineligible for other reasons. Of the 60,000 occupied housing units, approximately 5 percent are not interviewed in a given month due to temporary absence (vacation, etc.), the residents are not found at home after repeated attempts, inability of persons contacted to respond, unavailability for other reasons, and refusals to cooperate. The interviewed households contain approximately 112,000 persons 15 years old and over, approximately 31,000 children 0-14 years old, and about 450 Armed Forces members living with civilians either on or off base within these households.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

The CPS universe consists of all persons aged 15 years and older in the civilian noninstitutional population of the United States living in households. The September 2002 supplement universe consists of the full CPS sample of all households, for civilian persons aged 15 years and over.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

The CPS variables provide labor force data containing current estimates of the economic status and activities of this population which includes estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment. The CPS variables also cover respondents' demographic information: age, sex, race, marital status, educational attainment, family relationship, occupation, and industry. The Volunteer Supplement variables provide household member's participation in volunteer service from September 1, 2001 to the date of the interview. Respondents were asked about the frequency of their volunteer activity, the kinds of organizations they volunteered with, and the types of activities they chose. Among those individuals who did not volunteer, the questions identified what barriers they experienced in volunteering, or what would encourage them to volunteer.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

The effect of nonresponse cannot be measured directly, but one indication of its potential effect is the nonresponse rate. For the September 2002 basic CPS, the nonresponse rate was 6.6 percent. The nonresponse rate for the volunteer supplement was an additional 12.2 percent, for a total supplement nonresponse rate of 18.0 percent.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2003-03-21

Version History View help for Version History

Weight View help for Weight

The data contain seven CPS weight variables:

• Household Weight, HWHHWGT, should be used for tallying household characteristics.
• Family Weight, PWFMWGT, should be used only for tallying family characteristics. cha
• Longitudinal Weight, PWLGWGT, should be used for gross flows analysis and is found only on adult records matched from month to month.
• Outgoing Rotation Weight, PWORWGT, should be used for tallying information collected only in outgoing rotations.
• Final Weight, PWSSWGT, is used for most tabulations, controlled to independent estimates for (1) States; (2) Origin, Sex, and Age; and (3) Age, Race, and Sex.
• Veterans Weight, PWVETWGT, should be used for tallying veterans data only.
• Composited Final Weight, PWCMPWGT, is used to create BLS's published labor force statistics.

The one supplement weight variable associated with the 2002 CPS Volunteer Supplement:

Supplement Non-Response Weight, PWNRWGT, should be used to account for missing data due to non-response, and used when constructing estimates from supplement items.

Users are strongly encouraged to refer to the User Guide for detailed information on how to use the weights, as well as how they were derived.