Analyzing Differences Between Survey Responses and Administrative Data for Property Value

• Activity Number: 156 - Continuing to Explore New Frontiers: Research to Integrate Administrative Data into the American Community Survey
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 4, 2020 : 10:00 AM to 11:50 AM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): R. Chase Sawyer*
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: Survey Responses; Respondent Burden; Property Value; Housing Characteristics; Administrative Records; AVM

Abstract

The U.S. Census Bureau takes pride in continually researching and implementing innovative methods of data collection. A new method the Census Bureau is researching is the use of administrative records, to limit the number of questions the survey needs to ask respondents.

This presentation expands on research completed in 2018 to investigate the differences between survey responses and administrative record data for property value. Recently, the Census Bureau researched how replacing survey responses with administrative records would affect ACS estimates for four topics; year structure built, acreage, property value, and property taxes. An interesting aspect of this research was how much lower estimates for property value were.

To expand on that research, we will present on results of examining the differences in survey responses compared to administrative record data by characteristics of the responding households to see if there are any patterns to help us better understand these differences. Using this information could help us and other researchers develop methodology to determine a modeled estimate for survey responses when administrative records are available.