Measuring What We Spend:

Toward a 

New Consumer Expenditure Survey

Panel on Redesigning the BLS Consumer Expenditure Surveys

Don A. Dillman and Carol C. House, Editors Committee on National Statistics

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Recommendation 6-4: A broader set of nonexpenditure items on the CE that 

are synchronized with expenditures will greatly improve the quality of data 

for research purposes, as well as the range of important issues that can be 

investigated with the data. The BLS should pay close attention to these issues 

in the redesign of the survey.

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Recommendation 6-5: A tablet computer should be utilized as a tool in 

supported self-administration. 

However, a paper option should continue to be available for respondents who 

cannot or will not use a tablet computer. Visual design principles should be 

applied to redesigning the paper instrument in a way that improves the ease 

of self-administration and is aligned with the tablet modules.

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Recommendation 6-6: BLS should develop a preliminary roadmap for 

redesign of the CE within six months. This preliminary roadmap would include 

a prioritization of the uses of the CE, an articulation of the basic CE design 

alternative that is envisioned with the redesign, and a listing of decision 

points and highest priority research efforts that would inform those decisions.

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Recommendation 6-7: A critical element of any CE redesign should be the 

use of incentives. The incentive structure should be developed, and tested, 

based on careful consideration of the form, value, and frequency of 

incentives. Serious consideration should be given to the use of differential 

incentives based on different levels of burden and/or differential response 

propensities.

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Recommendation 6-8: BLS should pursue a long-term research agenda that 

integrates new technology and administrative data sources as part of 

continuous process improvement. The introduction of these elements should 

create reductions in data collection and processing costs, measurement error, 

and/or the statistical variance and complexity of the CPI estimate. The agenda 

should address the robustness of new technology and a cost/quality/risk 

tradeoff of using external data.

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Recommendation 6-9: BLS should increase the size and capability of its 

research staff to be able to effectively respond to changes in the contextual 

landscape for conducting national surveys and maintain (or improve) the 

quality of survey data and estimates. Of particular importance is to facilitate 

ongoing development of novel survey and statistical methods, to build the 

capacity for newer model-assisted and model-based estimation strategies 

required for today’s more complex survey designs and non-sampling error 

problems, and to build better bridges between researchers, operations staff, 

and experts in other organizations that face similar problems.

Recommendation 6-10: BLS should seek to engage outside experts and 

organizations with experience in combining the development of tablet 

computer applications along with appropriate survey methods in developing 

such applications.

Committee on National Statistics
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Recommendation 6-11: BLS should engage in a program of targeted research 

on the topics listed in this report that will inform the specific redesign of the 

CE. 

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Research Topics for Designs

• Use of a tablet device.

• How people keep financial records. 

• Collecting data on a reduced set of 

96 expenditure categories. 

• Use of incentives. 

• Instrument development. 

• Privacy vs. open access. 

• Evaluate potential impact from 

reducing proxy reporting of 

expenditures. 

• Experiment with imputation 

methods and other statistical 

approaches. 

• Evaluate the effectiveness of using 

more intensive methods. 

 Compatible Research

• Experiment with other technologies to 

record and extract data. 

• Split questionnaire design. 

• Evaluate the utility and the ability to 

obtain data from additional sources. 

• Augmentation of sample with wealthy 

households.

• Identify and evaluate sources of auxiliary 

data (e.g., retailer data). 

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Research Topics for Specific Designs

Design A

Develop models that would estimate quarterly and annual expenditures and 

income at the household level from the four weeks of reported detailed data 

plus the data reported on larger and routine expenditures.

Committee on National Statistics
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Research Topics for Specific Designs

Design B

• Investigate the assumption that a “bounding” interview is unnecessary to 

avoid telescoping and other issues.

• Investigate the accuracy and completeness of aggregated expenditures for 

periods up to six months and for estimates of averages (i.e., average monthly 

spending gasoline) used in this prototype to construct a full set of microdata 

for the entire six-month period. 

• Develop appropriate models to “disaggregate” aggregated expenses using 

data from the one-week supported journal.

• Develop methodology for a successful component that will use an intensive 

interview and process based on prior collation of records and financial 

software to achieve a budget balance for the year at the household level as 

described below. Extend existing research done by Fricker, Kopp, and To (2011) 

to fully evaluate its potential and limitations.

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Research Topics for Specific Designs

Design C

• Research and develop models for estimation using the base survey and 

two components of data collection. 

• Research and develop models for imputing at the household level “smaller 

expense items” collected on the Detailed Expenditure Component and not 

on the Household Profile Component into the household-level dataset to 

complete the overall household expense profile.

Committee on National Statistics
CHAPTER 6: PATHWAY 

Recommendation 6-12: BLS should fund a “methods panel” (a sample of at 

least 500 households) as part of the CE base, which can be used for continued 

testing of methods and technologies. Thus the CE is never again in the 

position of maintaining a static design with evidence of decreasing quality for 

40 years.

Committee on National Statistics