The sample construction process yielded a population-based, random digit dialing sample of telephone numbers. The systematic dialing of those numbers to obtain a residential contact yielded a random sample of telephone households. The next step was to select eligible households within the total sample of working numbers.
An adult respondent at each number drawn into the sampling frame was contacted
about the composition of the household. Telephone numbers that yielded non-residential
contacts such as businesses, churches, and college dormitories, were screened
out. Only households, i.e., residences in which any number of related individuals
or no more than five unrelated persons living together, were eligible for
inclusion in the sample. This minimal screening was only to ascertain that
the sample of telephone numbers reached by interviewers was residential households.