What variables were considered as predictors for the small area model?
More than 100 county-level variables across 20 major types of variables (e.g., poverty, income, education, occupation) were examined as potential predictors for the percentage of adults lacking Basic Prose Literacy Skills in the small area modeling used to produce the 2003 NAAL indirect estimates,. The primary source was county-level data from the 2000 Census of Population. Summary File 3 (SF3) was used to extract county-level auxiliary variables. The SF3 contains the Census “short form” items (asked of all households) including information about age, gender, race, Hispanic or Latino origin, household relationship, and owner/renter status. The SF3 also contains the Census “long form” data coming from questions asked of about one-sixth of America’s households. The questions ask about income, education, language spoken, housing structure, housing costs, commuting, and many other topics. In addition to the Census of Population, various other sources were used for obtaining county-level an
