Arbeitspapier

Experimental tests of survey responses to expenditure questions

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This paper tests for a number of survey effects in the elicitation of expenditure items. In particular we examine the extent to which individuals use features of the expenditure question to construct their answers. We test whether respondents interpret question wording as researchers intend and examine the extent to which prompts, clarifications and seemingly arbitrary features of survey design influence expenditure reports. We find that over one quarter of respondents have difficulty distinguishing between you and your household when making expenditure reports; that respondents report higher pro-rata expenditure when asked to give responses on a weekly as opposed to monthly or annual time scale; that respondents give higher estimates when using a scale with a higher mid-point; and that respondents report higher aggregated expenditure when categories are presented in a disaggregated form. In summary, expenditure reports are constructed using convenient rules of thumb and available information, which will depend on the characteristics of the respondent, the expenditure domain and features of the survey question. It is crucial to further account for these features in ongoing surveys.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 4389

Classification
Wirtschaft
Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
Field Experiments
Subject
Expenditure surveys
survey design
data experiments
Verbraucherausgaben
Befragung
Test

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Comerford, David
Delaney, Liam
Harmon, Colm
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2009

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Comerford, David
  • Delaney, Liam
  • Harmon, Colm
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2009

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