The 1996 National Household Education Survey (NHES:96) was a random digit dial telephone survey of households that was developed by the National Center for Education Statistics and conducted by Westat, Inc. The NHES:96 included two topical survey components, "Parent and Family Involvement in Education," (PFI) which collected data about family involvement in children's schooling, and "Civic Involvement," (CI) which collected data about participation in civic activities and attitudes toward government. This manual provides documentation and guidance for users of the four public release data files of the NHES:96: the Household and Library File, the PFI and CI files, the Youth Civic Involvement file, and the Adult Civic Involvement File. Volume I contains information about the purpose of the study, the data collection instruments, the sample design, and data collection and data processing procedures. Volumes II through V each contain a guide to the data file and its codebook, a discussion of data considerations and anomalies, and, in appendixes, the file layout and additional information. This volume contains the following sections: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "Description of Data Collection Instruments"; (3) "Sample Design and Implementation"; (4) "Data Collection Methods and Response Rates"; and (5) "Data Preparation." An appendix presents the screener for the four files. (Contains 1 figure, 17 tables and 25 references.) (SLD)

The National Household Education Survey (NHES) collects data on the educational activities of the United States population. NHES is designed as a telephone survey of the noninstitutionalized population of the United States. The survey was fielded for the first time in 1991 and will be conducted annually beginning in 1993. Each survey will examine a different topic or topics related to education. This report presents findings from the 1991 NHES, which examined young children's participation in nonparental care and early education programs. The first part of the report provides background information on the survey. The second part presents data on the relationship between preschoolers' participation in nonparental care and early childhood education programs, and child characteristics, family characteristics, and maternal employment. The third part presents data on the relationship between the number of hours per week preschoolers spend in nonparental care and early education programs, and child characteristics, family socioeconomic characteristics, and maternal employment. Preschool children's participation in home-based and center-based programs is discussed in the fourth part. The fifth part examines the relationship between children's participation in the child care arrangement in which they spend the most time per week, and child characteristics, family characteristics, and maternal employment. The sixth part discusses characteristics of center-based programs, including group size and child-staff ratios. The report is summarized in the seventh part. A discussion of the survey methodology is included. (Contains 17 references.) (BC)