User Guide for the TIMSS International Database.pdf - TIMSS and ...

C H A P T E R 7 D A T A B A S E F I L E S
7.2.1 Background Files
There are three different types of TIMSS background files – student, teacher, and school.
7.2.1.1 Student Background File
Students who participated in TIMSS were administered a background questionnaire with
questions related to home background and school experiences. The Student Background file
contains students' responses to these questions. One version of the questionnaire was
administered in Population 1 and two versions were administered in Population 2. In Population
2, one version was tailored for educational systems where science is taught as an integrated
subject (non-specialized version). The second version was tailored for educational systems where
the sciences (biology, earth science, physics, and chemistry) are taught separately (specialized
version). Table 2.8 in Chapter 2 shows which countries administered the specialized and nonspecialized
versions of the questionnaire. Although most countries chose to use one version of the
questionnaire, some countries opted to use both. The variable ITQUEST identifies the version of
the questionnaire that was administered to the students in Population 2. For students who were
administered the non-specialized version, all questions that were given only in the specialized
version were coded as not administered. For students who were assigned a specialized version of
the questionnaire, all questions that were asked only in the non-specialized version were coded as
not administered. The Student Background files also contain a series of identification variables,
link variables, sampling variables, achievement variables, and the derived variables that were
used for the creation of the international reports.
7.2.1.2 Teacher Background File
The mathematics and science teachers of the students who were sampled for TIMSS were
administered at least one questionnaire with questions pertaining to their background and their
teaching practices in the classes of the sampled students. Each teacher was asked to respond to a
questionnaire for each class taught that contained sampled students. The Teacher Background
files contain one record for each of the classes taught by either a mathematics or a science
teacher. In some cases, although the teacher was to respond to more than one questionnaire,
responses to only one were obtained. In these cases, there were as many records entered in the
teacher file as classes were taught by the teacher, and the background information from the
complete questionnaire was entered into these teacher records. In Population 1 a single
questionnaire was administered since both mathematics and science are usually taught by the
same teacher at this age level; the responses to this questionnaire can be found in one file. There
were two questionnaires administered in Population 2 – one for the mathematics teachers and one
for the science teachers. The data from these questionnaires are found in separate files. Variable
names for questions asked in both questionnaires are the same.
In the Teacher Background data files each teacher was assigned a unique identification number
(IDTEACH) and a Teacher Link Number (IDLINK) that is specific to the class taught by the
teacher and to which the information in the data record corresponds. The IDTEACH and IDLINK
combination uniquely identifies a teacher teaching one specific class. So, for example, students
linked to teachers identified by the same IDTEACH but different IDLINK are taught by the same
teacher but in different classes. The Teacher Background files cannot be merged directly onto the
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