Research issues in the Survey of Income and Program Participation - ARCHIVED

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is an ongoing nationally representative household survey program of the Bureau of the Census. The primary purpose of the SIPP is to improve the measurement of information related to the economic situation of households and persons in the United States. It accomplishes this goal through repeated interviews of sample individuals using a short reference period and a probing questionnaire. The multi-interview design of the SIPP raises methodological and statistical issues of concern to all panel surveys of families and persons. This paper reviews these issues as they relate to the SIPP. The topics reviewed are: 1) questionnaire design; 2) data collection, including respondent rules, data collection mode, length of reference period, and rules for following movers; 3) concepts, design, and estimation; and 4) response error.