Incorporating Administrative Data in Survey Weights for the 2018-2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation
October 2024
Working Paper Number:
CES-24-58
Abstract
Response rates to the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) have declined over time, raising the potential for nonresponse bias in survey estimates. A potential solution is to leverage administrative data from government agencies and third-party data providers when constructing survey weights. In this paper, we modify various parts of the SIPP weighting algorithm to incorporate such data. We create these new weights for the 2018 through 2022 SIPP panels and examine how the new weights affect survey estimates. Our results show that before weighting adjustments, SIPP respondents in these panels have higher socioeconomic status than the general population. Existing weighting procedures reduce many of these differences. Comparing SIPP estimates between the production weights and the administrative data-based weights yields changes that are not uniform across the joint income and program participation distribution. Unlike other Census Bureau household surveys, there is no large increase in nonresponse bias in SIPP due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In summary, the magnitude and sign of nonresponse bias in SIPP is complicated, and the existing weighting procedures may change the sign of nonresponse bias for households with certain incomes and program benefit statuses.
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:
respondent,
survey,
expenditure,
bias,
population,
household,
poverty,
socioeconomic,
household survey,
sampling,
medicaid,
survey income,
assessed,
income data,
income survey
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Internal Revenue Service,
Social Security Administration,
Employer Identification Number,
Current Population Survey,
Decennial Census,
Housing and Urban Development,
Survey of Income and Program Participation,
Social Security,
Department of Housing and Urban Development,
American Community Survey,
Social Security Number,
Business Register,
Census Bureau Business Register,
Master Beneficiary Record,
Disability Insurance,
Protected Identification Key,
American Housing Survey,
Computer Assisted Personal Interview,
W-2,
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,
Master Address File,
Census Bureau Disclosure Review Board,
2020 Census,
Person Validation System,
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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
MAF-ARF,
SSA Numident,
Census Bureau Person Identification Validation System,
Social Science Research Institute
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