An official website of the United States government
United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor
The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information,
make sure you're on a federal government site.
The site is secure.
The
https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any
information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Office of Survey Methods Research
SHARE ON:
More Information
Published Year: 2010
Survey/Program(s): Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE)
Catalog: Statistical Survey Paper
Download PDF
Source Selection: Selecting and Evaluating America’s Expenditures
Abstract
The Consumer Expenditure Survey data is obtained from one of two distinct instruments, the Diary Survey and the Interview Survey. The Diary Survey is designed to capture ALL expenses incurred over a two-week period while the Interview Survey generally captures items that can be expected to be recalled for a period of 3-months or longer. The decision as to which survey to use for each Universal Classification Code (UCC) is crucial to the ongoing estimation of expenditures. Over time, the survey questions can change as do the way people respond so it is very important to adapt by identifying which survey provides the best data for all overlapping UCC's. This paper presents a multi-step quantitative method for comparing expenditure data between both surveys so that the best estimate of the mean annual expenditures per household can be obtained.