Data Training Resources from the NSECE: Tutorials

Questions about the data files or documentation? Email the NSECE team at nsece@norc.org

OPRE is sponsoring an NSECE Users’ Group to provide a forum for researchers to learn from one another and to help the NSECE team develop the most useful technical assistance materials. You can join the mailing list for the group.

Tutorials

To date, OPRE has published a number of resources to support the use of NSECE data.

NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up Training Videos

This training is designed to give researchers technical information for the different data sets they may wish to use in their research using the NSECE COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up. Each module focuses on an analysis conducted by the NSECE project team and discusses the factors contributing to the choice of analytic sample and sampling weight based on the analytic objectives and inferences of interest of the researcher. For each analysis we explain what weights and analysis sample were chosen and discuss alternatives that were considered. The training also helps researchers who plan to perform data analysis with COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-up data become familiar with the NSECE user’s guides, questionnaires, data files, and methods and design.
These modules discuss which factors the NSECE team considered when conducting analyses on the experiences of child care and early education centers, and members of the centers’ workforce at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic using data from the NSECE COVID-19 longitudinal follow-ups.
- Module 1: Behind the Scenes: NSECE Center-based Provider COVID-19 Follow-up Survey, Analytic Sample and Weight Selection
- Module 2: Behind the Scenes: NSECE Center-based Workforce COVID-19 Follow-up Survey, Analytic Sample and Weight Selection

2019 NSECE Incorporating Geography into NSECE Analyses – Webinar and Workshop Series

This series, consisting of one webinar and two supporting interactive workshops, is designed to give researchers tools for incorporating geographic concepts into their NSECE analyses. Using data from the 2019 NSECE, presenters provide a technical overview of the role that geography plays in the NSECE sample design, the geography data available for research, and some examples of best practices when using the geography data. The training also emphasizes the importance of data reporting guidelines to protect respondent confidentiality when using geography in analyses.
- Video 1: Incorporating Geography into NSECE Analyses: An Overview: This webinar presents an overview of how geography is built into the NSECE design and data files.
- Video 2: Incorporating Geography into NSECE Analyses: Linking Geography-based External Data: Part 1 of this interactive workshop series focuses on linking NSECE to non-NSECE data such as policies or contextual information.
- Video 3: Incorporating Geography into NSECE Analyses: Defining Communities in the NSECE: Part 2 of this interactive workshop series focuses on using the NSECE sample design to define communities relevant for ECE analysis.

2019 NSECE Making Comparisons Webinar Series

This series of three webinars provides information about the 2012 and 2019 archived NSECE data sets. The webinars share strategies for how to: review documentation to ensure comparability of measures; choose statistical measures (e.g., mean vs median); handle both discrete and continuous variables; use design variables to construct design-corrected standard errors; set up significance tests; and access the data.
- Video 1: Making Comparisons Using the NSECE: Comparing Across Survey Years: This webinar is a data training on comparing listed home-based provider estimates in the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) data.
- Video 2: Making Comparisons Using the NSECE: Comparing Subgroups: This webinar is a data training on comparing unpaid and paid unlisted home-based provider estimates in the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) data.
- Video 3: Making Comparisons Using the NSECE: Comparing Across Sample Types: This webinar is a data training on comparing workforce and listed home-based provider estimates in the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) data
- Technical Resource: Making Comparisons Using Data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) tutorial: This document provides guidance to anyone interested in comparing data from the 2012 NSECE and 2019 NSECE. It demonstrates how to effectively manage the NSECE’s complex survey design to make comparisons (1) across two subgroups (e.g., listed paid home-based providers and listed unpaid home-based providers) within the 2019 NSECE and (2) across the 2012 and 2019 NSECE for the same sample type (listed home-based providers).

2012 NSECE Sampling Approach and Study Design

This self-study tutorial covers the overall study design and sampling approach of the NSECE (PDF/PPT), including sample sources and the four NSECE surveys at the foundation of the NSECE data collection design. Highlighted topics include sample sizes, the use of provider clusters, geographic characteristics available, and the importance of weighting due to the study design.
There is also an overview of the complex sample design and data collection utilized by the NSECE.(PDF research brief)
ICPSR’s Virtual workshop: Linking Administrative and Survey Data. This series uses the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) as its example survey for several of its discussions and exercises. This series includes six interactive videoconferencing sessions.
- Session 1: Workshop overview, types of data, and introduction to the NSECE Instruction.
- Session 2: Understanding administrative data types and managing linkage research projects.
- Session 3: Analytic purpose and feasibility of linking survey and administrative data.
- Session 4: Working with linked data: units of linkage, units of analysis, and measurement differences.
- Session 5: Linkage and Disclosure Protection
- Session 6: Budgeting, evaluating different opportunities and research designs, possible linkage ideas

2012 NSECE Data Files and Documentation

The data files and documentation are described in detail in this self-study tutorial (PDF/PPT). The slides describe the type of variables available in each of the five categories of data files the NSECE will offer: Quick Tabulation, Public Use, Level 1 Restricted-Use Questionnaire, Level 2 Restricted-Use Geographic, and Level 3 Restricted-Use Identifying. In addition, types of documentation and the information they contain are described here.

2012 NSECE Statistical Analysis Topics

Statistics derived from the NSECE study without proper weighting adjustment will result in biased estimates. The Design-corrected Variance Estimation of NSECE Statistics Brief offers programming examples on how to calculate two common statistics—totals and percentages—accounting for survey design variables.
The PSU and Cluster Weights User Guide describes key elements of the NSECE sampling methodology, including Primary Sampling Units for the household and listed center- based and home-based providers, Secondary Sampling Units for the household sample, and the Provider Cluster.
Constructing Center-Based Cluster-Level Metrics to Use in Household Level Analysis: A Tutorial for NSECE Data is aimed at researchers interested in using NSECE to carry out analysis of local-level interaction of supply and demand of Early Care and Education. The tutorial is composed of a self-study guide and six CSV data files that illustrate the process of creating cluster-level aggregates using Center-based providers and how these metrics are integrated into the NSECE Household dataset for analysis.
The NSECE Calendar Data Tutorial (zip) provides a step by step description on how to restructure the NSECE data files to facilitate the creation of variables, how to interpret variables from the Household Survey file that contain key information related to the Calendar file, and how to create a variable at the child level that may be adapted to fit the user’s specific needs. The tutorial is composed of a self-study guide and five CSV data files.

2012 NSECE Surveys

The following self-study tutorials (PDF/PPT) focus on each survey used in the NSECE: the Center-Based Provider Survey, Workforce Survey, Home-based Provider Survey, and Household Survey. Several aspects of each survey are covered, including data collection, survey respondents, topics covered by the survey, levels of observation, and differences across the categories of files for the survey.

Various Concepts Captured in the 2012 NSECE

Learning about ECE Providers using the 2012 NSECE: This 45-minute webinar features two guest research teams. Marcy Whitebook and Bethany Edwards from The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at the University of California, Berkeley present findings from “California’s ECE Workforce: What We Know Now and the Data Deficit That Remains” and “The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018.” Erica Greenberg from The Urban Institute presents findings from “Are Higher Subsidy Payment Rates and Provider-Friendly Payment Policies Associated with Child Care Quality?” and “Segregated from the Start.”
What Can We Learn From Child Care Licensing Lists And Other State Administrative Data?: This 60-minute webinar features NSECE project director Rupa Datta discussing what can be learned from child care licensing lists and other lists of child care providers, such as state pre-K rolls, quality ratings system databases or Head Start directories in a location.
Schedules of Work and Child Care in the NSECE: This video discusses the types of information available about parental work schedules in the NSECE, and outlines ways parental work data can be linked to children’s non-parental care usage.
Defining Type of Care in the NSECE: This 1.5 hour webinar features Rupa Datta discussing type of care definitions as related to those used in the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) data files, particularly the Household Survey, the Center-Based Provider Survey, and the Home-Based Provider Survey.
Using Household and Provider Data to Measure Enrollment, Usage in the NSECE: This 15 minute video features NSECE Project Director, A. Rupa Datta, discussing the use of household and provider data to measure enrollment and usage in the NSECE.
Type of Care in the NSECE: This 22 minute video features NSECE Project Director, A. Rupa Datta, and NSECE Senior Survey Director, Jill Connelly, discussing the various types of care arrangements explored in the NSECE.
Age of Child in the NSECE: This 8 minute video features NSECE Senior Research Scientist Carolina Milesi discussing how age of child is captured in the NSECE.
Prices and Cost in the NSECE: This 13 minute video features NSECE Project Director, A. Rupa Datta, discussing the different concepts of price of child care and cost of child care in the NSECE.
Populating the Calendar File (CAPI Demo): This 18 minute video features NSECE Project Director, A. Rupa Datta, discussing and demonstrating the collection and of calendar data and creation of the calendar file.
ECE Arrangements in the NSECE: This 1.5 hour webinar features A. Rupa Datta discussing the array of Early Care and Education arrangements that are available within the NSECE Household Survey.
Levels of Geography in the NSECE: This 57 minute webinar features NSECE Project Director, A. Rupa Datta discussing levels of geography in the NSECE.
Looking Forward to the Proposed 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education Overview: A State Perspective: Planning is underway for a proposed 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education! This webinar reviews uses of 2012 NSECE state data and describes ways for states to participate in the proposed 2019 NSECE, such as the provider sample frame supplement available for states.