Tips on Using the NADbank Readership Codebook

The NADbank readership codebook provides information on the structure, contents, and layout of the NADbank data.

1. The codebook is divided into the following six sections. The numbering is sequential within each section.

2. The status of the data is identified under the columns “TYPE” and 2009 (NADbank 2009). The “TYPE” column is used to identify whether the data is a summary (code “S”) or filtered (code “F”). The “2009” and “2010” columns are used to identify the level of data access. An “A” indicates the data has general access and is available to all users. An “R” indicates the data is restricted and (hs) identifies half-sample markets. “N” indicates the data is restricted to NADbank only.

S This identifies summaries, where the range of answers has been grouped. Summaries are provided throughout the codebook and usually follow immediately after the un-summarized data it is related to.
 

For example:

Page Media 1 - Amount of time personally spent watching television yesterday.

 These data are provided in a quantitative form (actual minutes) but they are also summarized into groups. (Refer to card 85, column 15, codes 1 to 8.)

3.Manual Coding

Users, who are familiar with using the NADbank codebook, usually opt to manually code their data runs.

Manual coding is done using a sequence of card - column - code.

Using the example on page PREF 1 (Amount of time personally spent watching television yesterday), if you want to know the number of people who personally spent 5 hours or more watching television yesterday you would code:
 

If you want to know a precise “quantity” answer that is not available in the summary, this can also be coded individually. The coding sequence will match each column with a digit, with the first column matched to the first digit, the second column to the second digit, the third column to the third digit, etc. In our example we have four columns that will be used in the manual coding, columns 11, 12, 13 and 14. (Note: The number of columns will vary with the type of quantity question, but the principle of matching columns to digits remains the same).

If you want to know how many people spent exactly 90 minutes watching television yesterday you would code:
 

The last digits (in this case 0 + 0 + 9 + 0) indicate the exact value for which you want data.

Users using either the Telmar-Harris Media Systems or Nielsen IMS software users are strongly encouraged to consult the NADbank codebook before conducting detailed database runs. The NADbank readership codebook also includes additional information that will help researchers to use the data more effectively.

Please refer to the NADbank Readership Codebook for more details.