The NALS tables analysis is a special format for analyzing National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) data. It builds upon the plausible values to calculate the specific estimates that current NALS plausible values are designed to approximate. Currently, NALS tables present the percent of respondents falling in a given literacy level for composite scales. These estimates are based on the multivariate posterior distributions from which plausible values are drawn.
Estimating the percent within NALS literacy levels is similar to estimating the percent above
cutscores for NAEP tables but modified so that the estimates are for the percentage of people within a given literacy level rather than above it.
Cohen, J., & Jiang, T. (1998). Composite Assessment Scales and NAEP Analyses. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research.
To run NALS Tables left-click on the Statistics Menu and select "NALS Table." The following dialogue box will open:
Specify the independent variable and the dependent variable. There are several specific requirements for variables when running the NALS Table. The user may specify only a single, categorical independent variable. A future release will allow the selection of multiple.
This procedure reproduces estimates of percent of respondents within a given achievement level as presented in NALS reports.