Resources vs. Coverage--How to Minimize One and Maximize the Other: A Case Study from an Education Survey

• Activity Number: 400
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 12, 2004 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Nancy R. Johnson*+ and Meagan Wilson and Karen D. Deaver and Stephen P. Broughman
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and National Center for Education Statistics
• Keywords: measuring quality-coverage ; targeting ; Private School Survey ; quality reporting and quality indicators ; improving process quality

Abstract

We've all been there... You design the optimal approach for survey coverage. Then the final budget comes through, or the schedule is tight, or other work demands your time, and you just can't do what you want. How do you proceed? What do you sacrifice? Can you actually plan for this? This paper will articulate the assumptions and describe the methodology and criteria for targeting specific state sources to maintain or improve the frame coverage for the Private School Survey (PSS). These criteria take into consideration the quality and timing of the state information as well as the net coverage improvement to the overall PSS at the national and subnational levels. As part of its frame development, the PSS collects data from Early Childhood Centers (ECCs). However, due to budget, scheduling, or other work competing for time or money it's not always feasible to update the frame from every state source. When this occurs, the challenge is to prioritize the processing of the state sources that take into consideration costs, schedule, and frame coverage requirements. This initiative is essential to ensuring that the quality of the estimates and total variance meets both the Census Bureau and customer expectations.