Because Ski is published 8 times annually and Skiing is published 7 times annually, a unique ascription procedure is applied to them in every Spring interviewing wave (i.e., odd numbered waves). Since issues are not published between July and August for Ski, and between May and August for Skiing, claimed readership during this interviewing period cannot reflect levels obtained when the magazines are published regularly. The ascription procedure involves adjusting the audience numbers by using the responses to the frequency question (On the average, out of 4 issues that are published, how many issues of MAGAZINE, do you read or look into? Is it 0, 1,2,3, 4?) to account for the interviewing period when issues are not published. The following levels adjust each response accordingly: .125 (for a 0 out of 4 issues response), .25 (for a 1 out of 4 issues response), .50 (for a 2 out of 4 issues response), .75 (for a 3 out of 4 issues response), and 1 (for a 4 out of 4 issues response).

Interviewer Estimating Procedures 

MRI requires that answers be recorded for household income, individual employment income and value of owned home for every respondent. In cases where a respondent is unwilling or refuses to provide one or more of these items, MRI instructs the interviewer to estimate a response and to indicate that the information is estimated. Interviewers are trained to use all information about the respondent and his/her neighborhood in making this estimate. The incidence of estimated responses is shown for each of these variables, respectively.