Understanding Society User Support

Dear Sir/Madam

We would like to address a few questions regarding the (re)coding of occupations of the respondents, their father and mother, and the job aspirations of young teenagers.

In the Understanding Society User Manuel is written that: ’Occupational coding for respondent’s current or last occupations was carried out by NatCen. Coding was carried out on a case-by-case basis by trained coders, with 10% of the coding of SOC and SIC subject to a blind-coding check. Coding of parental occupations and respondent’s first occupation was carried out within ISER, using the Computer Assisted Structured Coding Tool (CASCOT) system developed by Peter Elias. As a result of the six-figure codes attached via CASCOT, matching of the 1990 SOC coding with previous occupational classifications is now possible; in addition, special algorithms within CASCOT allow the re-coding of SOC codes into SEG, RGSC, Goldthorpe, Hope-Goldthorpe, Cambridge Scale and ILOISCO 88.’

Where can we find the re-coded occupations of the respondents, or the algorithm to recode their occupations into e.g. Goldthorpe codes?

The occupations of the father and mother when the respondents were aged 14 are also asked. Are these occupations also already recoded?

In the youth module young teenager are asked to what job they would like to do. Again, are these occupations also already recoded?

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Peter Tammes