How the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll on searching for work was conducted

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Poll on the attitudes of Americans age 50 and over on searching for work was conducted from Aug. 8-Sept. 10 by NORC at the University of Chicago. It is based on landline and cellphone interviews with a nationally representative random sample of 1,024 adults 50 years old and older. Interviews included 815 respondents on landline telephones and 209 on cellphones.

Digits in the phone numbers dialed were generated randomly to reach households with unlisted and listed landline and cellphone numbers.

Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.

As is done routinely in surveys, results were weighted, or adjusted, to ensure that responses accurately reflect the population’s makeup by factors such as age, sex, education, employment status and race. In addition, the weighting took into account patterns of phone use — landline only, cellphone only and both — by region.

No more than 1 time in 20 should chance variations in the sample cause the results to vary by more than plus or minus 4.1 percentage points from the answers that would be obtained if all adults 50 years old and older in the U.S. were polled.

There are other sources of potential error in polls, including the wording and order of questions.

The survey was sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which makes grants to support original research and whose Working Longer program seeks to expand understanding of aging Americans’ work patterns.

The questions and results are available at http://www.apnorc.org .