LSAL Project Instruments and Data Collection


Screening interview conducted through Computer Assisted Telephone Interview to identify and recruit the sample

Survey instruments administered in respondents' homes using Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI questionnaire)

TALS Document Literacy assessment
Standardized assessments of literacy using the ETS Test of Applied Literacy Skills.  A technical discussion of this test can be found in the documentation of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy Survey (1992) by clicking on the link below (I. Kirsch, K. Yamamoto, N. Norris, D. Rock, A. Jungeblut, P. O’Reilly, A. Campbell, L. Jenkins, A. Kolstad, M. Berlin, L. Mohadjer, J. Waksberg, H. Goksel, J. Burke, S. Rieger, J. Green, M. Klein, P. Mosenthal, S. Baldi.  Web release: April 11, 2000. Technical Report and Data File Users Manual for the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey. National Center for Education Statistics publication # 2001457).

This assessment is also being used in the 2002 National Assessment of Adult Literacy and the International Adult Literacy Survey (1996) and the International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (2003).

Skills assessment:

Wave 1:

Adult Reading Assessment Vocabulary and Word Reading Assessments developed by Jean Chall and John Strrucker

Wave 2 and Wave 6:

General Social Survey “Wordsum” vocabulary assessment

Wave 5:

TOWRE Reading diagnostic; writing sample

Wave 6:

SkillCheck computer literacy

SSN - matched administrative data.

These data are available from the Oregon state agencies with respondents' permission and through special arrangement for educational research.  They include community college participation, GED test taking and certification, and unemployment insurance (UI) hours and wages.  Approximately 85% of the sample gave us permission to use their social security numbers to match these databases.

Data Collection
The two manuals available here were designed by project staff and developed through practice over nine years of longitudinal data collection. We are making them available here to encourage and support other research projects. They include systems and procedures as well as sample forms, scripts and letters. Feel free to borrow and modify them for your own work.