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FUTURE
THE
OF FEDERAL
HOUSEHOLD
SURVEYS
Summar of a Workshop
y
Krisztina Marton and Jennifer C. Karberg, Rapporteurs
Committee on National Statistics
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
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NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing
Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils
of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the
Institute of Medicine. The members of the steering committee for the workshop were
chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant to the
Committee on National Statistics from the National Science Foundation (award number
SES-0453930). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in
this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the
organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-21497-1
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-21497-1
Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500
Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, D.C. 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-
3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu.
Copyright 2011 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2011). The Future of Federal Household
Surveys: Summary of a Workshop. K. Marton and J.C. Karberg, rapporteurs. Commit-
tee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of
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www.national-academies.org
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STEERING COMMITTEE FOR THE WORKSHOP ON
THE FUTURE OF FEDERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
HAL S. STERN (Chair), Donald Bren School of Information and Computer
Sciences, University of California, Irvine
KATHARINE G. ABRAHAM, Joint Program in Survey Methodology,
University of Maryland
CHESTER BOWIE, National Opinion Research Center, Bethesda, Maryland
CYNTHIA CLARK, National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC
GRAHAM KALTON, Westat, Rockville, Maryland
JENNIFER MADANS, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Hyattsville, Maryland
ALAN ZASLAVSKY, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard University
Medical School
KRISZTINA MARTON, Study Director
JENNIFER C. KARBERG, Staff Officer
AGNES GASKIN, Administrative Assistant
v
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COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS
2010-2011
LAWRENCE D. BROWN (Chair), Department of Statistics, The Wharton
School, University of Pennsylvania
JOHN M. ABOWD, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell
University
ALICIA CARRIQUIRY, Department of Statistics, Iowa State University
WILLIAM DuMOUCHEL, Oracle Health Sciences, Waltham, Massachusetts
V. JOSEPH HOTZ, Department of Economics, Duke University
MICHAEL HOUT, Survey Research Center, University of California,
Berkeley
KAREN KAFADAR, Department of Statistics, Indiana University
SALLIE KELLER, Science and Technology Policy Institute, Washington, DC
LISA LYNCH, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis
University
SALLY C. MORTON, Department of Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh
JOSEPH NEWHOUSE, Division of Health Policy Research and Education,
Harvard University
SAMUEL H. PRESTON, Population Studies Center, University of
Pennsylvania
HAL S. STERN, Donald Bren School of Computer and Information
Sciences, University of California, Irvine
ROGER TOURANGEAU, Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University
of Maryland, and Survey Research Center, University of Michigan
ALAN ZASLAVSKY, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard University
Medical School
CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director
vi
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Acknowledgments
This report summarizes the proceedings of the Workshop on the Future of
Federal Household Surveys, held on November 4-5, 2010. The workshop was
convened by the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) of the National
Research Council’s (NRC) Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and
Education (DBASSE) to discuss major challenges facing the federal statistical
system in the area of household data collections and to identify strategies for
moving forward.
Support for the workshop was provided by several federal statistical agen -
cies through a core grant to CNSTAT from the National Science Foundation’s
(NSF) Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics Program. Contributing agen-
cies included the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the National Center for Education
Statistics, the National Center for Health Statistics, the National Center for
Science and Engineering Statistics, the U.S. Social Security Administration, and
the U.S. Census Bureau.
As chair of the workshop steering committee, I acknowledge with appre-
ciation everyone who participated in the workshop and made it a success. I
especially would like to thank my colleagues on the steering committee for their
dedication and leadership in planning the workshop and moderating the ses -
sions. On more than one occasion a steering committee member volunteered to
offer their expertise to fill a place in the program. I also thank all of the present-
ers for their thoughtful presentations and professionalism, and acknowledge the
many workshop participants for their contributions. The discussions were bold,
and many new ideas emerged that can benefit the federal statistical system.
vii
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viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
On behalf of the steering committee, I would also like to sincerely thank
the CNSTAT staff for making this workshop happen. Connie Citro, director of
CNSTAT, provided invaluable guidance and support for the study. Krisztina
Marton, study director, oversaw the planning of the workshop and the publi -
cation of this meeting summary. The steering committee would especially like
to recognize her considerable efforts to take the committee’s wish lists and
recommendations and then with great tenacity turn them into an outstanding
program. She was assisted in the planning of the workshop and the prepara -
tion of the workshop summary by Jennifer Karberg, on loan from the Census
Bureau. Christine McShane provided editorial help with this summary report,
and Kirsten Sampson Snyder shepherded the report through the review pro -
cess. Administrative assistance was provided by Agnes Gaskin.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for
their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with proce -
dures approved by the Report Review Committee of the NRC. The purpose
of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that
will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible
and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity,
evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and
draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the delibera -
tive process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of
this report: Graham Kalton, Westat; Frauke Kreuter, Joint Program in Survey
Methodology, University of Maryland; Sharon Lohr, School of Mathematical
and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University; Lars Lyberg, retired from
the Director General’s Office, Statistics Sweden, and Statistics Department,
Stockholm University; and Kristen Olson, Survey Research and Methodology
Program, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive
comments and suggestions, they did not see the final draft of the report before
its release. The review of this report was overseen by Susan Hanson, School of
Geography, Clark University. Appointed by the NRC’s Report Review Commit-
tee, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination
of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and
that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final
content of this report rests entirely with the rapporteurs and the institution.
Finally, we recognize the many federal agencies that support CNSTAT
directly and through a grant from NSF. Without their support and their com -
mitment to improving the national statistical system, the workshop that is the
basis of this report would not have been possible.
Hal S. Stern, Chair
Steering Committee for the Workshop on
the Future of Federal Household Surveys
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Contents
1 INTRODUCTION 1
Workshop Focus, 2
Workshop Organization, 3
Plan of the Report, 3
2 THE FEDERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY SYSTEM AT A
CROSSROADS 5
Federal Household Data Collections in the United States, 5
Survey Harmonization in the United Kingdom, 8
Discussion, 11
Statistics Without Surveys? Data Collection in the Netherlands, 14
Canada’s Household Survey Strategy, 15
Discussion, 19
3 SAMPLING FRAMES 23
Using Large Surveys to Assist in Frame Development for
Smaller Surveys, 23
The Potential Role of the American Community Survey in Sampling
Rare Populations, 26
Sampling Frames for Federal Household Surveys: A Vision for the
Future, 30
Discussion, 31
ix
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x CONTENTS
4 COLLECTION OF HOUSEHOLD DATA 35
New Data Collection Modes and the Challenge of Making Them
Effective, 35
Integrating Administrative Records into the Federal Statistical
System 2.0, 41
The Role of Administrative Records in Household Surveys:
The Canadian Perspective, 46
Discussion, 50
5 END OF DAY 1: DISCUSSANT REMARKS AND FLOOR
DISCUSSION 55
Discussant Remarks, 55
Floor Discussion, 58
6 SMALL-AREA ESTIMATION 61
Finding the Boundaries: When Do Direct Survey Estimates Meet
Small-Area Needs?, 61
Using Survey, Census, and Administrative Records Data in
Small-Area Estimation, 64
Role of Statistical Models in Federal Surveys: Small-Area
Estimation and Other Problems, 70
Discussion, 73
7 SURVEY CONTENT 77
Promoting Consistency: The Case of Disability Measures, 77
Different Measures for Different Purposes: The Case of
Income and Poverty Measures, 79
Thinking Outside the Current American Community Survey
Content Box, 82
Competing Federal Statistics and the Role of the Office of
Management and Budget: Is There a Need for
Official Measures?, 84
Discussion, 86
8 DISCUSSION AND NEXT STEPS 89
The Need for Change, 89
Integration of Survey Content, 90
Small-Area Estimation, 92
Integration of Sampling Frames, 92
The Role of the American Community Survey, 93
Administrative Records, 94
Broader Integration of Data Collections, 95
REFERENCES 97
Appendix: Workshop Agenda 99
