Can I just check…? Effects of edit check questions on measurement error and survey estimates

Publication type

ISER Working Paper Series

Series Number

2011-23

Series

ISER Working Paper Series

Authors

Publication date

September 15, 2011

Abstract:

Household income is difficult to measure, since it requires collecting information about all potential income sources for each member of a household. We assess the effects of two types of edit check questions on measurement error and survey estimates: within-wave edit checks use responses to questions earlier in the same interview to query apparent inconsistencies in responses; dependent interviewing uses responses from prior interviews to query apparent inconsistencies over time. The findings suggest that traditional interviewing methods under- estimate household income in the lower tail of the income distribution, but that neither edit check method has much effect on estimated poverty rates or transition rates in poverty.

Subjects


Related Publications

Paper download  

#520108

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest