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
CIFA relationship and version codes
SPSS data file 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). The SPSS variables F1, F2 and F3 numerically represent the relationship that was the focus of assessment.
Please note the following: What is coded in variables F1, F2 and F3 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 variables F1 to F3 for a given set of 182 CIFA answers.
The codes for variables F1 to F3
The same rules apply for converting letter codes to number codes for variables F1 to F3. F1 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). F3 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 variable F2
The variable F2 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 and 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.
Data on the identification variables would be entered as follows:
Respondent 1:
Project = 001
Family = 001
F1 = 01
F2 = 1
F3 = 02
Age1 = 28
Educ1 = 16
Sex1 = F
Ethnic= 3
Respondent 2:
Project = 001
Family = 002
F1 = 01
F2 = 1
F3 = 02
Age1 = 26
Educ1 = 13
Sex1 = F
Ethnic= 5
Here are some other sample form codes:
F1 = 01, F2 = 6, F3 = 02 would be entered for the Wife's report of husband's behavior in the past
F1 = 01, F2 = 8, F3 = 02 would be entered for the Wife's report of how husband's past behavior would have been ideally
Return to the CIFA SPSS Data Entry page
Return to the California Inventory for Family Assessment home page
Contact information for the authors of the California Inventory for Family Assessment
This web page is copyright (c) 1999, 2007 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.