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1
Introduction
The Workshop on the Future of Federal Household Surveys was designed
to address the increasing concern among many members of the federal sta -
tistical system that federal household data collections in their current form
are unsustainable. The workshop was held at the request of the U.S. Census
Bureau. Other statistical agencies that helped sponsor the workshop through
the core grant to the Committee on National Statistics from the National Sci -
ence Foundation’s Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics Program include
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, and the Social Security Administration.
Although no consensus recommendations were generated, the workshop
was structured to bring together leaders in the statistical community and to
facilitate a discussion of opportunities for enhancing the relevance, quality,
and cost-effectiveness of household surveys sponsored by the federal statistical
system.
Federal household surveys today face significant challenges: (1) increasing
costs of data collection, (2) declining response rates, (3) perceptions of increas -
ing response burden, (4) inadequate timeliness of estimates, (5) discrepant
estimates of key indicators, (6) inefficient and considerable duplication of some
survey content, and (7) instances of gaps in needed research and analysis (e.g.,
lack of information on institutional populations). The more recent American
Community Survey (ACS) can possibly be leveraged to help cope with these
1
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2 THE FUTURE OF FEDERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
challenges, and the workshop considered options for better integrating it into
the federal household survey portfolio.
Although moving forward with a coordinated strategy will require many
more conversations on the issues covered at the workshop, if solutions are not
developed in a comprehensive and timely manner, the challenges put at risk
the ability of the federal statistical system to provide important policy-relevant
information. The goal of the workshop was to begin and to facilitate the much-
needed discussion on solutions that range from methodological approaches,
such as the use of administrative data, to emphasis on interagency cooperative
efforts.
WORKSHOP FOCUS
The goal of and charge to the steering committee were to develop a work -
shop aimed at enhancing the household surveys sponsored by the federal
statistical system. As part of his welcoming remarks, the steering committee
chair, Hal Stern (University of California, Irvine) noted three guidelines for
participants to keep in mind. First, the workshop was to provide a picture of
the system as it is, including an overview of the many current challenges. And
although such issues as nonresponse and increasing cost are of great interest,
these challenges would be used to set the context for discussion rather than
being the focus of discussion themselves, he said, because a number of other
recent meetings have focused on these topics extensively.
Second, an important cross-cutting issue was how a large continuous sur-
vey, such as the ACS, could be useful to the household survey system. The
questions were what could be done with a survey like this and how could it
best be used. This issue came with a caution, however, not to get bogged down
in the details at this stage of the conversation.
The final caution made by Stern was to avoid the trap of focusing on what
cannot be done, which would be the wrong kind of discussion for this work-
shop. Instead, he emphasized that workshop participants should keep open
minds and consider where innovation and experimentation might happen. He
said that this was not just a presentation workshop; it was meant to inspire and
encourage participation from those present.
Stern said that this point was worth reinforcing: this workshop was
intended to be about ideas. It is ever more critical that the statistical com -
munity consider ways to make the household survey system better and more
efficient. In that spirit, he encouraged the participants to consider some chal -
lenging questions. Is the model of data collections centered around individual
surveys outdated? How can new data collection modes and analysis techniques
be integrated most efficiently? Can the resources invested in maintaining and
updating address files be streamlined and perhaps directed toward developing
a universal address file?
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3
INTRODUCTION
WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION
The workshop began with a look at the U.S. household survey system and
where it stands, followed by overviews of household survey systems from sev -
eral other countries: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada. These
countries are facing many of the same issues as the United States. Although
what works in one country may not work in another, it is important not to rule
any ideas out in the course of these discussions.
The workshop then focused on topic areas in which promising research is
being done and there is also room for additional discussion and perhaps some
experimentation. One of these topics is sampling frames: Can large surveys
serve as first-phase samples for smaller surveys? Can the statistical community
work together to make the development and maintenance of sampling frames
more efficient? There was also a general discussion of methodology—for exam -
ple, modes of data collection and the use of administrative records.
The agenda then shifted to a discussion of estimation challenges and the
boundaries between direct estimation and model-based small-area estimation.
This was followed by a discussion of survey content, particularly instances of
multiple measures of the same concept, when this is desirable, when it is not,
and what can be done about it. This session included thoughts on the potential
future role of the ACS and of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
PLAN OF THE REPORT
This summary of a workshop is intended to describe the presentations of
the workshop and the discussions that followed each session topic, as outlined
in the agenda (see appendix). Following this introduction, Chapter 2 represents
the first session of the workshop with an overview of the U.S. federal household
survey system at a crossroads. It also presents models of household surveys
in other countries in contrast to those in the United States. Chapter 3 covers
the session on sampling frames and new ideas on how to use them. Chapter 4
addresses various methods of collection of household data, including the use of
administrative records. Chapter 5 summarizes the discussions that took place at
the end of the first day’s presentations. Chapter 6 covers the topic of small-area
estimation, how this methodology is used now, and other ways that it might
be used in federal surveys. Chapter 7 focuses on survey content, discussing
standardized measures of the same concept used across different surveys (e.g.,
disability) and instances when the use of different measures is more appropri -
ate (e.g., poverty or income). The chapter also addresses the topic of official
statistics. Finally, Chapter 8 summarizes the floor discussion that took place at
the workshop’s close.
It is important to note that the nature of this report is that of a factual
summary of the presentations and related discussions that transpired during
the workshop. Therefore, all views presented herein are those solely of the
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4 THE FUTURE OF FEDERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
workshop participants. The presentation topics and content reflect the areas of
expertise of the presenters and are not intended to be an exhaustive discourse
on the future of federal household surveys. Furthermore, this workshop was
not designed to produce either conclusions or policy recommendations. Rather,
the intent of the workshop was to open a dialogue on the subject, encourage
further research, and share new ideas about improving the system of household
surveys.
