Redesigning the Consumer Expenditure Survey: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation

• Activity Number: 517
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 6, 2014 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Government Statistics Section
• Author(s): Laura Erhard*+ and Adam Safir
• Companies: Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Keywords: redesign ; Survey Methodology ; Data Collection ; Consumer Expenditure Survey

Abstract

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) initiated the multi-year Gemini Project to research, develop, and implement an improved survey design. The redesign's objective is to improve the quality of the survey estimates through a verifiable reduction in measurement error. In 2013, the CE program released a comprehensive redesign proposal based on three years of information gathering, inquiry, and synthesis. The CE program relied on a broad set of inputs to develop a redesign proposal which meets key stakeholder requirements and addresses three factors believed to affect the survey's ability to collect high quality data; specifically, measurement error, environmental changes, and flexibility. This poster will summarize the core elements of the new design, highlight alignment with expert recommendations (e.g., from the Committee for National Statistics), discuss challenges associated with plans for development, implementation, and evaluation, and describe projects underway related to the redesign. The poster will be of interest to data users, as well as survey producers and methodologists involved in the redesign of large-scale complex surveys