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Gaining Perspective Through 

Individual Diaries

Brett McBride

Economist

Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys

2016 CE Survey Methods Symposium

July 12, 2016
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Individual Diaries in the CE Survey

 CE recently began testing individual diaries 

 Reason for individual diaries primarily data quality

 Tests have given insight into implementation

 Challenges with implementing and assessing 

individual diaries remain
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Why Individual Diaries?

1. Measurement error: less proxy reporting

o Proxy reporting leads to poorer data (Kojetin and 

Jerstad, 1997) 

2. Measurement error: reduced recall bias

o CE limits recall after certain time has passed

3. Respondent burden: limit burden placed on 

any one individual
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E Pluribus Unum
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1. How Many Report

 Need many participants for more self-reporting

Study Description Full 

participation 

(1+member)

Individual 

Diaries

Online diaries, 

No incentives

43%

Proof of 

Concept

Mix of paper & 

online, $20/person

incentives

77%
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1. Effect on Reporting

 How did individual diaries affect reporting compared to 

current (1 HH proxy reporter) in multi-member HHs? 

 In Individual Diaries test, did not find increased reporting with 

individual diaries (compared to production) 

 In Proof of Concept test, within paper diary households, also 

no increase in reporting when full-HH diary participation

 This held when controlling for age, education and number of 

members
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1. Effect on Reporting (cont.)

 Risk: certain expenditures do not get ‘claimed’ by any one 

individual diarist

 Had fewer expenditure reports in ‘other’ category for IDFT. 

 Possible solution: Respondents may need more instruction on 

how to report common household expenses (e.g., rent, 

utilities, education fees)
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2. Less Retrospective Reporting

 Benefit of individual (mobile) diaries is enabling real-time 

reporting of expenditures made by each HH member
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2. Estimating Real-Time Reporting

 Data showed average online POC diarist had 38% of 

logins between midnight and 3pm (N=302)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

midnight-3am 3am-6am 6am-9am 9am-noon noon-3pm 3pm-6pm 6pm-9pm 9pm-midnight

Proportion of All Logins
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3. Diffused Respondent Burden

 No within-respondent comparison of proxy and 

individual reporting conditions to assess burden

 HHs may not prefer individual diaries though

-POC debriefing responses (N=374)

Question Response options % of HHs

Would you prefer having a single diary for the 

whole household or having an individual diary 

for each member of the household?

Prefer single diary for the whole household 68.2%

Prefer Individual Diaries 30.2%

Don’t Know 1.1%

Refused 0.5%
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Challenges: Measurement Error

1. How to involve HH in participation?

a) Have respondent present at interview train others?

b) Set threshold for extent of participation required to be a complete?

2. How to sustain reporting over time?

a) Individual reminder contacts? 

b) Optimal mode and frequency of contacts?
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Challenges: Measuring Benefits

1. What are ways to measure whether real-time 

reporting is occurring?

2. Is there evidence that contemporaneous 

reporting is important?
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Challenges: Design

 How to structure survey to maximize 

participation and minimize burden?

Have all eligible members equally responsible for 

participating?

Or have main diary and supplemental diaries?

 Sourcing: take information on some items 

from alternative sources?
Contact Information

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Brett McBride

Economist

Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys

www.bls.gov/cex

202-691-5136

mcbride.brett@bls.gov