An Early Look at the Consumer 

Expenditure Survey Gemini 

Redesign Proof of Concept Test 

Laura Erhard, Jennifer Edgar, 

Nhien To 

Office of Prices and Living Conditions 

Division of Consumer Expenditure Survey 

FCSM Research Conference 

December 2, 2015 
 

 

Outline 

 Background 

CE’s Gemini Project

Proof-of-Concept test (POC) 

 POC test design 

 Field staff feedback 

 Preliminary results 

 Key findings 

 Next steps 
 

 

 

 

What is the Gemini Project? 

“...aims to redesign the Consumer Expenditure 

(CE) survey to improve data quality through a 

verifiable reduction in measurement error—

particularly error caused by underreporting.”
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post Wave

Non monetary Inc

Respondent

engagement

V

Vis

12 months

betweenwaves

w

CE Redesign: New Protocol 

- entive: 

mailings CE Experience Package 

Diary Week 

& Records Collection 

AdvanceMailing 

Wave 1 

isit 1: Recall Interview 

it 2: Records Interview 

Wave 2 

AdvanceMailing 

Visit 1: Recall Interview 

Diary Week 

& Records Collection 

Visit 2: Records Intervie 
 

 

 

Proof-of-Concept Test 

 Ensure that the basic 

underlying structure 

and components of the 

new design are 

feasible 

 Designed to mirror the 

proposed design to the 

fullest extent possible 
POC Design 
 

 

 

 

POC Design – Advanced Mailing 

 Advanced letter sent via priority mail 

Contained $2 bill (token cash incentive) 

Contained CE advance mailing language 

modified to include language for the POC 

Visit 1/Ind. Diary/Visit 2 design 

Included mentions of the incentives 
VISIT 1 
 

 

 

 

POC Design – Visit 1 Recall 

 Visit 1 (V1) interview very similar to current 

CE Quarterly Interview 

 V1 conducted with a modified production 

CAPI instrument 

Section Description 

Home Furnishings 

Appliances and Household Equipment 

Entertainment Expenses 

Trips and Vacations 

Miscellaneous Expenses 
 

 

 

 

 

 

POC Design – V1 Diary Placement 

 Gathered all available household members 

 Discussed Diary keeping tasks with members 

 Identified Diary mode to each participating 

member, provide user IDs/passwords or paper 

diary 

Main respondent decided on mode for absent 

members when choice was needed 

Collected email and phone number of each 

individuals, asking permission to contact mid- week 

 Left materials for respondents 
 

 

 

POC Design –

V1 Records Instructions 

 The Field Representative (FR) described the 

records interview and requested the 

respondent to collect relevant records from 

the reference period (3 months prior to the 

V1 interview) 

 The respondent was provided 

with a detailed checklist 

identifying which records to 

collect 

DIARY WEEK 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POC Design –

Diary Week: Respondents 

 Respondents kept an open-ended diary 

 Diary kept online (accessible either via web or mobile device) 

OR filled out a paper diary...respondent choice

 Main respondent recorded expenditures for ineligible 

respondents, household expenses, and for any household 

member not participating. 

Categories: 

- Food and Drink Away From Home 

- Food and Drink For Home Consumption 

- Clothing, Shoes Jewelry, & Accessories 

- All Other Products & Services 

 Help was available via a call-center help desk and email 
POC Web Diary Screenshots 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POC Design –

Diary Week: FRs 

 FRs had access to a summary report of web diaries for their 

cases: 

 # Successful Log-ins, # Unsuccessful Log-ins, #Expenditure 

Reports 

 Details on expenditures reports (date, expense, description, 

Amount) 

 FRs were instructed to call the main respondent within 2 days of 

placement if a R hasn’t logged in OR if R hasn’t made entries

 Phone calls were made to the reference person (main 

respondent) 

 FR was encouraged to follow-up with individuals that provided 

contact information 

 FRs were instructed to call the household mid-week regardless of 

entries, to see if there are questions and remind them to collect 

records for V2 
VISIT 2 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POC Design – V2 Diary Pick Up 

 FR Collected Paper diaries 

 Conducted diary recall process with main R 

and any available HH members 

Asked if any entries were not entered into 

the diary and collected those missed 

entries (dependent on how far from the 

diary keeping week) 
 

 

 

Visit 2 – Records Interview 

 Conducted records interview with respondent 

Section Description 

Housing Characteristics 

Rented Homes 

Owned Homes 

Utilities and Fuels 

Rented and Leased Vehicles 

Owned Vehicles 

Insurance Other than Health 

Health Insurance 

Medical Expenses 

Occupations and Income 

Assets and Liabilities 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Debriefing Questions 

 Respondent debriefing questions related to V1 

interview, diary keeping, records collection, 

and V2 interview: 

Reactions to the incentives, general 

feedback, technical difficulties with 

web diaries, records collection task, 

etc. 

 FR debriefing questions after each visit 

After V1: recall, diary placement, 

and records training 

After V2: diary week contacts, diary 

recall, and records. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Field Staff Feedback 

 Generally positive, liked the design 

 Really liked offering incentives 

Didn’t work for everyone, but...

For those that it did, helped keep 

engagement through second visit 

 A lot to ask of respondents in the week 

between surveys (diary + record collection), 

BUT some feedback appreciated combining 

the samples – saving travel time and reducing 

the number of total waves. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preliminary Results - July 

Response Rates: 

POC Response Rate = 53.1% 

2014 CE Interview Response Rate = 66.4% 

2014 CE Diary Response Rate = 65.0% 

N % 

Eligible Addresses 337 100.0 

Refusals + Noncontacts 127 37.7 

Incompletes 31 9.2 

Completed all components of 179 53.1 

POC test 
 

 

 

 

Preliminary Results - July 

Individual Diaries: 

Total eligible members 334 

Total diaries placed 329 

Average number of eligible household members 1.9 

Average number of diaries placed per household 1.8 

Average number of diaries with entries per 

household 

1.7 
 

 

Preliminary Results - July 

Mode Choice: 

N % 

Members eligible for web diary 249 100 

Web diaries placed 118 47.4 

Paper diaries placed 129 51.8 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preliminary Results - July 

Web Diaries: 

N % 

Web diaries with log in attempts 117 100.0 

Only unsuccessful log in attempts 11 9.4 

At Least 1 successful log ins 106 90.6 

Multiple successful log ins 82 70.1 

Web diaries with >0 entries 99 84.6 

Average number of entries (>0 log ins) 15.9 n/a 
 

 

 

Preliminary Results - July 

Records: 

Complete interviews 179 

% Used at least 1 record 88.8 % 

Average number of sections with record 

use per household (out of 10) 

4.2 
Percent record use by section 

76.5 

60.3 

46.4 45.8 

40.2 38.6 36.9 

33.0 

29.6 

11.7 

Rented 

Homes 

Owned

Homes

Utilities and

Fuels 

Rented and 

Leased 

Vehicles 

Owned 

Vehicles 

Insurance 

Other than 

Health 

Health 

Insurance 

Medical 

Expenses 

Occupations

and Income

 Assets and 

 Liabilities 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key Findings (so far) 

 Those who agreed to the survey, were likely 

to complete all components 

 Anecdotally – incentives were effective in 

continued cooperation and motivation 

 Take up rate for the web diary was lower 

than expected 

 Respondents were unwilling to provide email 

addresses, especially for non-present 

household members 

 Despite the dramatic change from current 

production, FRs thought the new design was 

better overall 
 

Next Steps 

 POC Data Analysis 

Comparisons to CE production data 

Effectiveness of incentives 

Length of interview 

GO/NO-GO decision on Gemini Redesign 

 Large Scale Feasibility Test (fielding 2019) 
Contact Information 

Laura Erhard 

Senior Economist 

Branch of Research and Program Development 

Consumer Expenditure Survey 

www.bls.gov/cex

202-691-5119 

erhard.laura@bls.gov