Dependent Interviewing in the U'S' Census Bureaus Survey of Income and Program Participation SIPP

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Dependent Interviewing in the U.S. Census
Bureaus Survey of Income and Program
Participation (SIPP)

• Joanne Pascale and Nancy Bates
• DI Seminar, University of Essex
• September 17, 2004

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SIPP Overview

• Multi-panel survey begun in 1983
• 4 month reference period 9-12 waves per panel
• Measures dynamics of economic well-being among
  U.S. households
• Core topics each wave demographics, work,
  government assistance, assets, health insurance
• Topical modules vary by wave
• Complex CAPI instrument
• 2004 Panel Wave 1 Sample size 62,000 Response
  rate 85.1

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SIPP Methods Panel

• 4-year comprehensive research vehicle separate
  from but parallel to production SIPP survey
• General goal reduce burden, improve response
• Dependent interviewing objectives
• Improve interview process, flow
• Reduce attrition
• Reduce item nonresponse
• Reduce seam bias

4
SIPP interview months and their associated
reference period months (example)
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Methods Panel Design

• Expert review, analysis of existing SIPP data
• Literature review
• Qualitative research (cognitive testing,
  debriefing)
• 3 split-ballot field tests over 3 years
• 1st test Wave 1 2nd, 3rd tests Waves 1 and 2
• 2 treatments control and test
• Interviewers administered both treatments
• Interviewer surveys, assessments
• 1,000 households per treatment
• Response rate 86

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Dependent Interviewing Research

• Paucity of evidence in literature
• Research steps
• Commissioned formal literature review (Mathiowetz
  McGonagle, 2000)
• Conducted qualitative research (Pascale Mayer,
  2003)
• Developed dependent interview methods for MPSIPP
  2001 and 2002 quantitative field tests

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Types of Income Data in SIPP

• Sources of income
• Jobs businesses
• Unearned income, e.g.
• Government assistance (e.g. food stamps,
  welfare)
• Government entitlements (e.g. social security)
• Other (e.g. child support, alimony)
• Ownership of income-producing assets, e.g.
• Stocks bonds
• Savings accounts
• Interest-earning checking accounts
• Amount of income received from each source

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Dependent Interviewing (DI) Techniques

• Proactive
• Remind and ask
• Last time you said you received X. Do you still
  receive X?
• Reactive
• Ask from scratch, offer data from prior wave
  if nonresponse, or to detect/resolve discrepancies

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Control DI Techniques

• Remind Re-ask W1 Q
• If reported X in W1
• Last time I recorded that you received/owned X.
  Did you receive/own X at any time between Month
  1 and today?
• If not reported in W1 simply re-ask W1 Q
• Used for unearned income and asset sources

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Control DI Techniques

• Burden reduction
• If R reported a job/biz in W1 ask if anything
  about Rs duties has changed.
• If no, skip detailed questions about Rs duties
  and characteristics of the job/biz.

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Control DI Techniques

• None
• Unearned income amounts (except 2 items)
• Asset amounts
• Job earnings
• School enrollment
• Health insurance

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Control vs. Test

• DI used only for sources in control used for
  both sources and amounts in test
• For sources
• Control uses DI if ownership/receipt was reported
  at any time during Wave 1
• Test only uses DI if ownership/receipt was
  reported in Month4/5 of Wave 1
• Month 5 Control does not collect Month 5 data
  in Wave 1 Test does

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Test DI Techniques

• Remind ask still?
• Last time I recorded you received X. Do you
  still receive X?
• Used for asset sources, health insurance

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Test DI Techniques

• If source reported in M4 but not M5 of W1
• Remind ask continue?
• Last time I recorded you received X. Did you
  continue to receive X after M1 1st of W2?
• If yes, ask which months received
• If no, probe to verify receipt really ended in M4
  of W1
• Im sorry to bother you about this, but its
  important for me to get the dates just right. Are
  you sure X didnt continue into M1 of W2?

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Test DI Techniques

• If source reported in M5
• Remind ask correct?
• Last time I recorded you received X. Is that
  correct?
• if yes What months received in W2?
• if no Did you receive X since M2 of W2 1st?
• If yes What months received in W2?
• If no Probe to verify receipt really ended in M4
  of W1

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Test DI Techniques

• Ask W1 Q from scratch
• If D/R
• Bring back amount provided in W1 and ask still
  sound about right?
• Used for unearned income, asset, job earnings
  amounts

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Test DI Techniques

• Ask W1 Q from scratch
• If Whatever I said last time
• Bring back amount provided in W1 and ask still
  sound about right?
• Used for unearned income, asset, job earnings
  amounts

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Test DI Techniques

• Corrective (mainly to catch keying errors)
• If reported in W1 re-ask W1 Q from scratch
• If new amount varies by /-10 from W1 (unearned
  income amounts) or
• If new amount varies by 10 fold from W1 (assets
  amounts)
• gt probe with interviewer note to confirm change

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Summary of DI Techniques
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Summary of DI Techniques
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Next Steps

• Examine 2004 production data and compare to test
  results
• Assess feasibility of dependent interviewing
  under new windows system (vs. current DOS)