Commemorating the 50th anniversary of
the National Longitudinal Surveys
Canada Keck
Archivist for the NLSY79 Young Adult cohort
Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University
Years on the NLS team: 1993-present
Role: I work on questionnaire design, programming the survey in our CAPI/CATI system, monitoring data as it comes in from the field, and data documentation and dissemination.
Why am I proud to be part of the NLS team
The NLS surveys are a remarkable resource for researchers in a wide variety of fields. As data archivist for the Young Adult cohort, I am helping create a treasure trove of intergenerational data. The NLSY79 mothers were asked about their own experiences growing up, we began assessing their children in 1986, and we started interviewing their older children as Young Adults in 1994. By now most of the NLSY79 children have aged up into the Young Adult sample, and many of them have had children of their own. We are asking these YA respondents some of the same questions about their children as we asked their moms about them. We also know about their educational attainment, career trajectories, health and many other aspects of their lives. The potential for intergenerational research is amazing!