The sample of assistance groups for the survey was randomly drawn from the population of October-eligible Families First recipients, subject to the requirement that an adequate number of assistance groups be drawn from both urban and rural districts. The urban district is comprised of recipients in Davidson, Hamilton, Knox and Shelby counties. The remaining 91 counties constitute the rural district.

The goal was to obtain results with a confidence level, or error range, of plus or minus three percent for the entire sample and plus or minus five percent for urban and rural. The number of useable completed surveys exceeded these critical thresholds for the entire sample and for the urban/rural categories as well. The table below shows the ratio of completed surveys to the number of assistance groups sampled (response rates).

Data from the surveys was weighted so as to insure that the urban and rural samples correctly reflect the urban and rural segments of the entire population. As a result, in the tables and figures, rounded urban and rural numbers may, in some instances, appear not to sum to the total. This is the result of rounding to the nearest whole number, not error.