Appendix A: Survey Methodology and Data Reliability

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) is a set of telephone surveys sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). NHES surveys focused on after-school arrangements of students in 2001 and 2005. This report presents data from the After-School Programs and Activities (ASPA) survey of the 2005 NHES. The ASPA survey focuses on after-school care arrangements, including care by relatives and nonrelatives in private homes, after-school programs in schools and centers, activities that might provide adult supervision in the out-of-school hours, and students' self-care. ASPA-NHES:2005 data collection was conducted by Westat and took place from January 3 through April 24, 2005. This section provides a brief description of the study methodology.

The NHES:2005 sample was selected using random-digit-dial (RDD) methods, and the data were collected using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technology. The first stage of sampling in NHES:2005 was the selection of a sample of telephone numbers, with telephone numbers in areas with high percentages of Black and Hispanic residents sampled at higher rates than those in areas with low percentages of Black and Hispanic residents, and telephone numbers that could be matched to mailing addresses sampled at a higher rate than those that could not be matched to addresses. NHES:2005 included three topical surveys: ASPA, the Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) survey, and the Adult Education (AE) survey. In order to limit respondent burden, a within-household sampling scheme was developed to control the number of persons sampled for topical interviews in each household. Different probabilities were used to sample students depending on the characteristics of the telephone number and the number of eligible children in the household, and in some households more than one child was selected. The unequal selection probabilities and the clustering effect of sampling more than one child in some households were accounted for in the survey estimation procedures. The ASPA sample is nationally representative of all noninstitutionalized students in the 50 states and the District of Columbia who are enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade with a maximum age of 15 years old.⁷

The respondent to the ASPA interview was the parent or guardian in the household who knew the most about the student's care and education. Parents reported on their students' participation in care arrangements and activities after school, reasons for choosing a nonparental care arrangement, child's characteristics, including health and disability status, and parent/guardian and household characteristics. While parents or guardians responded to the survey, note that the unit of analysis is students. For students who were homeschooled, questions about nonparental care arrangements were not asked. Multiple attempts were made to complete interviews with persons not available at the time of selection. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish. Interviews were completed with parents or guardians of 11,684 students representing a weighted total of 36,185,760.

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