Vital and Health Statistics, Series 1, Number 48: Planning and Development of the Continuous National Survey of Family Growth

摘要

This report describes the design and planning work for the transition to continuous interviewing in the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), and the procedures used in fieldwork operations. A subsequent report will describe response rates and other results of the data collection. The report begins with a brief history of the NSFG as a periodic survey conducted six times between 1973 and 2002. The report also explains the limitations of the periodic design that was used during those years, with fieldwork carried out every 6 to 7 years in more than 100 areas all at once. The new continuous design was meant to adapt to a new, and less favorable, environment for in-person household surveys.