DOI: 10.3886/icpsr20862.v6
title: Latino National Survey (LNS), 2006
title: Version 6

description: The Latino National Survey (LNS) contains 8,634 completed
interviews (unweighted) of self-identified Latino/Hispanic residents
of the United States. Interviewing began on November 17, 2005, and
continued through August 4, 2006. The survey instrument contained
approximately 165 distinct items ranging from demographic descriptions
to political attitudes and policy preferences, as well as a variety of
social indicators and experiences. All interviewers were bilingual,
English and Spanish. Respondents were greeted in both languages and
were immediately offered the opportunity to interview in either
language. Interviewers also provided a consent script that allowed
respondents to opt out of the survey. Demographic variables include
age, ancestry, birthplace, education level, ethnicity, marital status,
military service, number of people in the household, number of
children under the age of 18 living in the household, political party
affiliation, political ideology, religiosity, religious preference,
race, and sex.
description: The principal investigators conducting the Latino National
Survey contracted Latin Force Group LLC (formerly Geoscape(R)
International) in October 2006 to enhance the survey respondent file
with respondent weights for use in statistical analysis. The original
weights for 8,634 records were based on a comparative analysis of the
respondents' demographics versus each geographical stratum's overall
Hispanic demographics. Subsequently in October 2007, the researchers
requested that respondent weights reflect not only the overall
demographic composition of respondents (versus state and national
Hispanic demographics from Geoscape American Marketscape DataStream
2006), but also reflect the location where the respondents reside so
regional differences in opinions and attitudes may be analyzed during
state and national summary analytics. Please refer to the Appendix II: Weight Documentation section of the codebook for further information.
WT_METRO_REV: Revised study area ("Metro") respondent weight for
summarizing within the Metro Area sampling geographies. This includes
rural and "other" sampling areas. These weights are calibrated so the
unweighted sample N (8,634) = weighted sample N within each of the 35
geographical strata. The Metro weight is equal to the state weight
when the state contains only one sampling area (i.e., Arizona,
Arkansas, Iowa, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and North
Carolina).
WT_STATE_REV: Revised respondent weight for summarizing within
the state. These weights are calibrated so the unweighted sample N
(8.634) = weighted sample N within each state. This weight is not
applicable for the multi-state DC Metro area.
WT_NATION_REV: Revised respondent weight for summarizing within
the United States. The 15 states and DC Metro area included in the
sample are home to 87.5 percent of Hispanic adults in the United
States. This weight allows statistical comparisons to the total United
States Hispanic adult population. These weights are calibrated so the
unweighted sample N (8,634) = weighted sample N for the multiple
states survey area.
description: The sample was stratified by geographic designation,
meaning that each state sample was a valid, stand-alone representation
of that state's Latino population. State sample sizes varied based in
part on funders' recommendations, but all national figures reported
were appropriately weighted such that the numbers were accurately
representative of the universe covered by the study. The national
margin of error was approximately plus or minus 1.05 percent. The
smallest sample size for any unit was 400, yielding a margin of error
of less than plus or minus 5 percent for each state. A number of
states were stratified internally. In each case but California,
internal strata were represented proportionately in the final sample,
and imposed solely to ensure that lower density regions were in the
final sample. In California, additional strata were imposed in a
nonproportional fashion, owing in part to the larger sample size, to
allow greater between-region comparisons. All state-level results were
computed using state-level weights such that they remained
representative of the state population.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Public Use Data
DS2: Restricted Use Data
DS3: Public Use + Contextual Data
DS4: Restricted Use + Contextual Data
description: The universe of analysis contains approximately 87.5
percent of the United States Hispanic population. States were first
selected based on the overall size of the Latino/Hispanic
population. In addition, four states, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, and
North Carolina, were added in an attempt to capture the evolving
nature of emerging populations in states without lengthy histories of
large Latino populations. Georgia and North Carolina, however,
rank 12th and 14th, respectively, in terms of Latino population size
and would have been included on that basis alone.
description: computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)This study is related to ICPSR study 24502: Latino National Survey (LNS)--New England, 2006 and ICPSR study 6841: Latino National Political Survey, 1989-1990. While these studies do not constitute a formal series, these studies are related by topic and principal investigator.This study has both public use and restricted use versions. The restricted use version contains the FIPS codes which were recoded to a 9-series in the public use file.For more information on FIPS code please go to the United States Census Bureau American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Codes site.