California Inventory for Family Assessment (CIFA)
The CIFA is copyright (c) 1989, 1992, 1996
by Paul D. Werner, Ph.D. and Robert-Jay Green, Ph.D.
Data Entry Instructions for Computer Scoring
(182 item -- 4 point response format)
Copyright (c) 1998 by Paul D. Werner and Robert-Jay Green
ASCII (Text) entry
CIFA relationship and version codes, as well as examples of data entry
A reminder about CIFA relationship codes
CIFA relationship letter codes consist of 3 letters. They indicate the family role of the respondent (1st letter of the code), whether "given" or "received" questions were asked (2nd letter of the code), and the family role of the "target" of the CIFA--the other member of the relationship being described (3rd letter of the code). We use various standard letters to represent these relationships and administration circumstances. For example, WGH means "Wife gives to Husband;" the wife was asked to describe how she acts toward her husband). Columns 67-71 of each data line numerically represent the relationship that was the focus of assessment.
Please note the following: What is coded in columns 67-71 of each data line is the code for the relationship being described by the CIFA, rather than the question booklet used.
Numerical coding of relationship codes
For the purpose of the data file, these relationship codes need to be converted to numbers. The numbers will be entered in columns 67-71 of each record (line) of data for a given set of 182 CIFA answers.
The codes for columns 67-68 and 70-71
The same rules apply for converting letter codes to number codes for columns 67-68 and 70-71. Columns 67-68 will refer to the first part of the CIFA relationship code (that is, the part of the code indicating the family role of the respondent). Columns 70-71 will refer to the "target" of response, as indicated in the third part of the CIFA relationship code.
Please note: If a code corresponding to the relationship you are studying with the CIFA is not on the following list, please contact Dr. Werner before entering your data.
Codes that have been assigned thus far are as follows:
Code Family role
01 Wife
02 Husband
11 Mother
12 Father
21 Daughter
22 Son
51 Female partner of unmarried heterosexual couple
52 Male partner of unmarried heterosexual couple
61 One female partner of lesbian couple
62 The other female partner of lesbian couple
66 One male partner of gay couple
67 The other male partner of gay couple
The code for column 69
This column indicates whether given or received questions were answered, and also whether "current relationship," "description of relationship in the past," or "ideal relationship" instructions were given. The codes are as follows:
Code Meaning
1 Gives -- current relationship
2 Receives -- current relationship
3 Gives ideally -- view of ideal given relationship behavior -- current relationship
4 Receives ideally -- view of ideal received relationship behavior -- current rel.
5 Given in past -- how the respondent acted toward the target in the past
6 Received in past -- how the target acted toward the respondent in the past
7 Ideal given-past -- how given behavior in the past ideally would have been
8 Ideal received-past -- how behavior received in the past ideally would have been
Examples of data entry
e.g., Project 001, two female respondents, wife gives to husband current relationship), 182 item CIFA. The first respondent (family 001) is a 28 year old Latina with 16 years of education. The second respondent (family 002) is a 26 year old White woman with 13 years of education. (Note that in the actual data file there is no space between lines, and that there are no blank lines either before the first data line or after the last data line.)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
columns..0.........0.........0.........0.........0.........0.........0.........0
41223244201423142113244130131324441113442413412421 1CIF001001011021128163
23113414342314331442311022112123332244144241433241 2CIF00100101102
11313114123314424111244233313112332241214212411123 3CIF00100101102
13323314423122144244131112234241 4CIF00100101102
33223242241223142312344330231324441113442413412421 1CIF001002011021126135
42114413241123234404134013212134231114342231221213 2CIF00100201102
13234124223314411133243432003123322241214112234213 3CIF00100201102
32313111443122444424131111211241 4CIF00100201102
Here are some other sample form codes:
01602 = Wife's report of husband's behavior in the past
01802 = Wife's report of how husband's past behavior would have been ideally
Return to the CIFA Data Entry main page
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Contact information for the authors of the California Inventory for Family Assessment
This web page is copyright (c) 1999 by Paul D. Werner and Robert-Jay Green. Not to be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the written permission of the authors.