They Spoke, We Listened: Reducing Respondent Burden Using Previously Reported Data

• Activity Number: 76 - Paradata for Adaptive Survey Designs and Other Applications
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, July 29, 2018 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Government Statistics Section
• Author(s): Emilola J. Abayomi*
• Companies: USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service
• Keywords: previously reported data; respondent burden; web-based survey; agricultural survey

Abstract

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) administers the Crops Acreage, Production and Stocks (APS) survey for the purpose of providing estimates for crop acreage, yield, and production. Respondents are asked questions about acres operated, more specifically land owned, land rented from others, land rented to others, total acres operated and cropland, each quarter. Redundant questions such as acreage have increased respondent burden. This research was conducted to determine whether respondent burden can be reduced by capturing the data in June (base month) and then reusing these data throughout the survey cycle for September, December and March. This study will explore the utilization and validity of previously reported data (PRD) and the effects on respondent burden. The results of this research and future direction to address respondent burden for the Agricultural Survey will be discussed.