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Project Title:PIAAC-Longitudinal (PIAAC-L) 2016 - Acquisition of Competencies (English Version)
  2. General Information: *Note: This item was tested in German. This is an English translation of the original German wording. The translation does not correspond exactly to the wording in the English PIAAC source questionnaire.*
  3. Question Text: How many hours were that per week?
    [Wie viele Stunden waren dies pro Woche?]
  4. Instruction: CI: If for question 4 category 5 or 6 (“at least one month but less than three months”, “three months or more”). [TL: Wenn bei Frage 4 Kategorie 5 oder 6 („Mindestens einen Monat, aber weniger als drei Monate“, „Drei Monate oder mehr“).]
  6. Answer Categories ______ hours [Stunden]
    1. Recommendations: An instruction shall also be provided as to whether or not the hours should be included for any preparation and follow-up times.
      If for question 4 category 5 or 6 ("At least one month but less than three months", "Three months or more") [Wenn bei Frage 4 Kategorie 5 oder 6 („Mindestens einen Monat, aber weniger als drei Monate“, „Drei Monate oder mehr“)]
      7.1 How many months were that? [Wie viele Monate waren dies?]
      7.2 And how many hours were these per month? Please also take into account your preparation and follow-up times. [Und wie viele Stunden waren dies pro Monat? Bitte berücksichtigen Sie auch Ihre Vor- und Nachbereitungszeiten.]
  2. Cognitive Techniques:Information image/link to cognitive pretesting General Probing, Information Retrieval Probing
  3. Findings for Question: Finally, those test persons (category 5: TP 16; category 6: TP 03, 08, 10, 12) were asked for the number of hours per month who indicated in question 4 that the corresponding training had lasted "at least one month but less than three months" (category 5) or "three months or more" (category 6). The two test persons 03 and 12 find the answer to the question "very easy". However, the remaining three test persons (TP 08, 10, 16) indicate that they found the answer to the question "rather difficult". Test person 08 gives the value 40 hours per month, but mentions that she only added up the theory lessons and did not include the practical part: "Because you don't really have the learning time in hours in your head. Am I now trained for two days or two weeks? And that is never constant. The school days are clearly defined, but the practical part is difficult to assess" (TP 08). Test person 10 also finds it difficult to decide whether she should count the hours she spent on further education in addition to the actual event: "[...] I had to think about how many hours she actually spent. Should I add the hours I spent alone at my desk or not and besides I had two semesters and I had different hours per week and should I have chosen an average?” She chooses 64 hours a month "without any prep time..."

    Test person 16 admits to having difficulties in answering the question, but these problems lie only in the actual adding up of the hours and not in the fact that the test person cannot remember the number of hours: "Because I am already so dependent on the computer and am no longer used to mental arithmetic" (TP 16).

    Overall, it must be made clear that the questions relate exclusively to the most important further training in 2014 for the respondents, although it has not been explicitly asked to date which one this was. If this has been clearly conveyed to the test persons, they are able to remember the duration of their further vocational training to the greatest extent possible. This also makes it clear that the longer the duration of further vocational training - for example, more than one month - the more likely it is that the number of hours will be overlooked. Beyond that, it is potentially unclear what the respondents for categories 4, 5 and 6 should add up in terms of hours at all in question 4: If the total duration of further vocational training that lasted longer than one week (Category 4: "At least one week but less than one month") or one month (Category 5: "At least one month but less than three months"; Category 6: "Three months or more") is to be determined, the number of weeks or months over which the event lasted must also be recorded.
  2. Question Topic: Job and career/ Job situation & professional activity
  3. Construct: Duration of further training