Impact of Changing the Number of Interview Waves in the NCVS

• Activity Number: 520
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 6, 2014 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Ivan Carrillo-Garcia*+ and Marcus Berzofsky
• Companies: RTI International and RTI International
• Keywords: Panel ; Waves ; Complex Survey ; Longitudinal ; Victimization

Abstract

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) currently utilizes a 7-wave or time-in-sample (TIS) design. The Bureau of Justice Statistics commissioned a Panel Design Study to evaluate the effects of changing the NCVS from a 7- TIS design to a 5-TIS, 3-TIS, or 1-TIS design. The study utilized a set of simulations to mimic different panel designs. The simulation assumptions were constructed using NCVS data from 1999 to 2011, and included assumptions about sample sizes, costs, response rates, household replacement, type of interview, demographics, and victimization propensities. After determining which variables are associated with victimization reporting, we simulated samples with different panel designs and computed summary victimization propensities and standard errors by several characteristics of interest. Simulations considered both keeping cost constant and the number of interviews constant across the different panel design options. In this poster we show the impact of changing the number of panel waves on property and violent victimization rates, in terms of point estimates, variability, sample sizes, and costs, by several population characteristics.