1 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Finding the Value of 

Electronic Records in the CE

Erica Yu

Research Psychologist

Office of Survey Methods Research

CE 2017 Survey Methods Symposium

July 18, 2017
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A New Opportunity for Records Use

 Current CE:

One interview per wave

Encouragement in the advance mailing and during 

the interview that information can be found on 

records

 Redesigned CE:

Two interviews separated by one week

New opportunity at Visit 1 to encourage records 

collection in preparation for Visit 2
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Instructing Respondents to Collect 

Electronic Records

 Focus on electronic records

 Goal 1: Collect primary records wherever 

possible (rather than secondary records)

 Goal 2: Store them in a systematic way that 

will make it easy to find records during the 

interview
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Methods

 20 participants

Screened for regular use of electronic records

Paid $80

 Three-part lab study

Lab visit 1: Instructions

Homework: Collect records at home, take notes

Lab visit 2: Feedback on the process and share 

descriptions of what records were collected
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Instructions (version 1)
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Instructions (version 2)
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Instructions (version 3)
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Instructions (version 4)
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Types of Records Collected

Expense

Had 

expense

Electronic 

record

Primary 

record

Secondary 

record 

Mortgage 6 6 3 3

Rent 13 10 0 9

Vehicle maintenance 8 6 1 4

Internet 14 14 8 4

Medical services 10 9 4 5

Health insurance 13 12 12 0
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Process of Collecting 

Electronic Records

 Strong preference to log-in as needed rather 

than download in advance

Nature of online records

Excessive burden

Smartphones

 Range of website designs

Designed for the business-consumer relationship
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Organizing Electronic Records

 File location

Default download folder

Create new folder

 File names

By company name

By item category

By month
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Browser Instructions

 Instructions have to be simple enough for 

interviewers to explain and troubleshoot

 Accommodate different browsers and versions

 Level of respondent tech knowledge
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Redefine the 

Task of Electronic Records Collection

 Acknowledge that:

Electronic records can be difficult to collect

Primary records would provide superfluous detail for 

many expenses

Using a record (electronic or not) for every expense 

would take a lot of interview time

 Simplify the task:

Encourage secondary records for most expenses; 

select only a handful for which primary records would 

greatly increase data quality
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Redefine the 

Use of Electronic Records in the Interview

 Accurate source of expenditure information

Secondary records may not have the detail

 Memory cue for forgotten expenditures

Secondary records can provide potentially good 

coverage of a household’s expenses

 Relying on both electronic and paper for the 

foreseeable future
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Future Challenges for Record Use

 Use of secondary records during the interview

 Organization of records

 Reducing amount of interview time required 

to use records

 Incomplete records collection
Contact Information

16 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Erica Yu

Research Psychologist

Office of Survey Methods Research

www.bls.gov/osmr

202-691-7924

Yu.Erica@bls.gov