Partial Interviews in the Consumer Expenditure Survey Laura Erhard, - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Exploring the Characteristics of Partial Interviews in the Consumer Expenditure Survey Laura Erhard, Supervisory Economist Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys DC-AAPOR/WSS Review-Preview Summer Conference July 10, 2019 1 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Outline  Brief overview of the CE  Response Rates and Partial Interviews  Research Questions  Findings 2 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Consumer Expenditure Survey  Collects spending data on the U.S. Population  Sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, collected by the Census Bureau  Survey participants report dollar amounts for all non-investment purchases. Business expenses and reimbursements are excluded.  Provide expenditure weights for the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI)  Quarterly Interview and Diary Survey 3 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Data  2017 CE Quarterly Interview (CEQ)  Personal interview  Rotating panel, collected quarterly, each household interviewed 4 times.  3-month recall  Designed to collect larger, recurring expenses that are easy to recall 4 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Response Rates and Partials  In CE, interviews are counted as complete if they cover all expenditure sections (through section 20).  “Sufficient Partials” are interviews that complete everything, but the income, assets, and liability questions (section 21 and 22).  “Insufficient Partials” are classified as Type A non -interviews and are indistinguishable based on our final interview classification codes. 2017 CEQ n Rate (% eligible) Eligible 40,193 100 Complete Interviews 24,479 60.9 Type A Non-interview 15,714 39.1 Insufficient Partials ?? ?? 5 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Research Questions  Who are those that drop out?  Can they help provide insight on other non-responders?  Can their break-off point inform us about survey design?  Could their data somehow be used in our processing? 6 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Defining a Partial: Data  Audit trail data: paradata created during a Blaise programmed Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) instrument that records a detailed history of the sequence, timing, and flow of an interview  Summarized Audit Trail timing data in survey files  Detailed, accessible audit trail tables 7 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Defining a Partial  Type A (Noninterview) cases with time > 0 for expenditure sections  Eliminate cases where cumulative expenditure time < 65 seconds or where demographic questions were never asked. 2017 CEQ n Rate (% eligible) Eligible 40,193 100 Complete Interviews 24,479 60.9 Type A Non-interview 15,714 39.1 Insufficient Partials 294 0.7 8 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Who are these partials? 9 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Respondent Education Level 40.0% 35.2% 34.7% 35.0% c 2 (3) = 3.8, p = 0.28 31.5% Cramer's V = 0.01 30.0% 27.1% 26.1% 25.0% 22.6% 20.0% 15.0% 12.0% 10.7% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% Less than h.s. High school Some college Bachelors or higher COMPLETE (N=24,477) TYPEA_PARTIAL (n=291) 10 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Respondent Race 90.0% 80.7% 80.0% 74.9% c 2 (3) = 7.07, p=0.07 70.0% Cramer's V = 0.02 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 16.2% 11.5% 10.0% 5.8% 5.2% 3.1% 2.6% 0.0% White Black Asian Other COMPLETE (N=24,479) TYPEA_PARTIAL (n=291) 11 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Respondent Age 25.0% c 2 (6) = 16.19, p = 0.01 Cramer's V = 0.03 19.6% 19.6% 20.0% 18.9% 18.0% 17.2% 16.8% 15.9% 15.8% 14.7% 15.0% 10.3% 10.3% 9.4% 10.0% 6.9% 6.5% 5.0% 0.0% 25 and under 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66-75 75 and older COMPLETE (N=24,479) TYPEA_PARTIAL (n=291) 12 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Household Tenure 70.0% 63.6% c 2 (1) = 1.76, p = 0.18 59.9% 60.0% Cramer's V = 0.01 50.0% 40.1% 40.0% 36.4% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Owner Renter COMPLETE (N=24,479) TYPEA_PARTIAL (n=294) 13 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Household Size 40.0% c 2 (3) = 9.60, p = 0.02 34.4% 35.0% Cramer's V = 0.02 29.7% 29.6% 30.0% 26.9% 25.5% 25.0% 21.5% 20.0% 18.0% 14.4% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% 1 CU member 2 CU members 3 or 4 CU members 5 or more CU members COMPLETE (N=24,479) TYPEA_PARTIAL (n=294) 14 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Region 40.0% 35.8% c 2 (3) = 9.27, p = 0.03 35.0% Cramer's V = 0.02 29.6% 30.0% 25.5% 24.5% 23.8% 25.0% 21.9% 21.1% 20.0% 17.8% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% Northeast Midwest South West COMPLETE (N=24,479) TYPEA_PARTIAL (n=294) 15 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Participation - Wave  Wave of data Count of Percent of Percent of complete Completes Partials interviews (n=24,773) (n=294) 1 25.8 28.6 2 24.7 25.5 3 24.2 28.2 4 25.4 17.7 16 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Participation – other waves  With 4 waves of data collections, what happens in the other waves? Count of Percent of Percent of complete Completes Partials interviews (n=24,773) (n=294) 0 - 36.1 1 8.25 30.3 2 10.7 20.1 3 17.25 13.6 4 63.81 - 17 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Where do respondents break-off? 18 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Where Respondents Break-Off 80 70 Count of respondents 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 19 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Where Respondents Break-Off 80 70 44.9 % Median time to break-off (minutes) 70 61 60 Count of Respondents 60 50 48 47 45 45 50 41 40 40 37 40 34 34 31 30 30 23 21 20 20 17 16 16 16 15 14 14 10 10 2 0 0 20 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

How do the expenditure data compare? 21 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

How do their expenses compare? (Rented Property) N Mean Average monthly rent (1 st property) Completes 8,225 $ 900 Partials 62 $ 1,100 22 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

How do their expenses compare? (Owned Property) N Mean Annual property tax (1 st property) Completes 13,169 $ 3,200 Partials 98 $ 5,700 Original mortgage amount (1 st loan) Completes 8,315 $ 186,000 Partials 73 $ 349,000 Amount of last monthly payment (Fixed rate mortgage) (1 st loan) Completes 8,343 $ 1,500 Partials 75 $ 1,600 23 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

How do their expenses compare? (Utilities) N Mean Monthly telephone/internet/cable bills Completes 22,571 $ 204 Partials 120 $ 216 Monthly electric/gas/water/etc Completes 22,406 $ 203 Partials 98 214 24 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Research Questions  Who are those that drop out?  Slightly younger, larger, non-white households, in the Northeast  Can they help provide insight on other non-responders?  Reported expenditures are higher for those that break-off  Can their break-off point inform us about survey design?  Around 15-30 minutes seems to be where the majority of partials lose interest…or is it content of the sections? More research is needed.  Could their data somehow be used in our processing?  Data for partials were very sparse, so not likely. 25 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Next Steps  Closer look at the definition of a partial (presence of respondent)  Investigate respondents that do stick around for >1 hour and then drop out  Look at data quality of sections (e.g. item nonresponse) for partials  Investigate interviewer reported reasons that the respondents didn’t complete the interview (“doorstep concerns”) 26 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov

Contact Information Laura Erhard Branch Chief, BRPD Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys www.bls.gov/cex 202-691-5115 Erhard.Laura@bls.gov 27 — U.S. B UREAU OF L ABOR S TATISTICS • bls.gov