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

Encouraging Record Use in 

the Consumer Expenditure Survey

Erica Yu

CE 2016 Survey Methods Symposium

July 12, 2016
2 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

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

Some Challenges for Records Use

 Minimizing burden before and during the interview

 Persuading respondents to collect and use records

 Communicating what records to collect

 Organizing records to be used in the interview

 Accessing electronic records 

 Addressing privacy concerns

 Training interviewers on handling records
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Interview Protocol Testing: Goals

 Research goals:

How communicate what records should be collected?

How encourage respondents to organize the records?

What would a Records-based CAPI instrument look like?

How would a Records-based interview feel?

 Two protocols tested:

Interviewer-driven

Respondent-driven
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Interview Protocol Testing: Methods

 Small-scale field test with Westat

 52 participants, 6 interviewers; split across 2 conditions

 $5 advance token + $55 post-paid incentive

 Procedure:

Set an appointment for in-person interview

10 days in advance: shipped a plastic folder, checklist, and instructions

3 phone calls from interviewers during the week

Records collection + In-person interview = ~120 minutes 
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Interview Protocol Testing: Findings

 Use of records significantly lengthens the interview

Finding the record, familiarity with information on a record

 Both protocols can be successful; recommend hybrid

No differences on length, respondent burden, interviewer burden

Respondent-track more likely to use electronic records

 Interviewer can have significant impact on record use

Incentives, discomfort with handling private documents

 Dependence on records can cause confusion

Bundling, misalignment between record and CE item
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Electronic Records Survey: Goals

 Research goals:

For what expenses people use electronic records

How people access those records

How respondents in a CE interview might use records

Willingness to use government-administered cloud storage

 Content likely to be part of the Records interview

Group 1: Housing, Utilities, Education, Vehicle purchase and 

maintenance, Legal and finance fees 

Group 2: Medical, Insurance policies, Income, Assets and Liabilities
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Electronic Records Survey: Methods

 Convenience sample from Amazon Mechanical Turk

n = 410, split across two conditions

Screened on whether they had expenses related to CE categories

This population is not representative but likely to have electronic 

records

Paid $1.75, <20 minute online survey
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Electronic Records Survey: Findings

 Participants have more electronic records than paper records

Exceptions: medical and vehicle – in-person transactions

 Electronic records are stored in online accounts (including 

others’ in HH) rather than email, financial software, or apps

 Participants prefer printing records rather than saving files or 

screenshots, e-mailing, or looking-up records as needed during 

the interview

 Older participants are less willing to use cloud storage

 All participants are concerned about security and privacy
10 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Some Challenges for Records Use

 Minimizing burden before and during the interview

 Persuading respondents to collect and use records

 Communicating what records to collect

 Organizing records to be used in the interview

 Accessing electronic records 

 Addressing privacy concerns

 Training interviewers on handling records
Contact Information

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Erica Yu

Research Psychologist

Office of Survey Methods Research

Yu.Erica@bls.gov