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Field Testing the CE Online Diary

Parvati Krishnamurty

Branch of Research and Program Development

2019 CE Survey Methods Symposium

July 16, 2019

Any opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do 

not constitute policy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Outline

 Background

 Large Scale Feasibility Test

 The LSF Online Diary

 Next Steps
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Background
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Current CE Diary Survey Diary

 CE Diary Survey (CED) currently uses two one-week paper 

diaries to collect household expenditures 

 Interviewers place the diaries in-person and conduct one more 

visit to pick up the diaries 

 The CED diary gathers more detailed expenditures than the 

Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey (CEQ)

 One household respondent reports on all household 

expenditures

 The Diary is divided into four sections: 

Food and Drinks for Home Consumption 

Meals, Snacks, and Drinks Away from Home 

Clothing, Shoes, Jewelry and Accessories 

All Other Products, Services and Expenses 
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Prior Online Diary Tests

 Web diary feasibility test: desktop diary; household diary

 Individual diaries feasibility test(IDFT): desktop and mobile; 

personal diaries

 Proof of concept test (POC): full redesign tested, desktop, 

mobile and paper; personal diaries

 Online diary improvement project (ODIP): device optimized to 

mobile/desktop/laptop; personal diaries

 Large scale feasibility test (LSF): device optimized to 

mobile/desktop/laptop; household diaries
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Large Scale Feasibility Test (LSF)
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LSF research questions

 Are there any operational issues with implementing online diaries?

 How do token incentives impact response rates and number of contact 

attempts?

 What technical issues do respondents have with using online diaries?

 Does receiving the pre-notification postcard and advance letter affect 

response?

 How useful are respondent materials like the user guide and online tutorials?

 How effective are the diary placement and pickup procedures?
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LSF research questions (contd.)

 Are there differences in data quality between online and production (paper) 

diaries? Data quality can be measured as number of items reported, 

expenditure amounts, item nonresponse, and extent of rounding of 

expenditures.

 Does using an online diary affect the incidence or amount of data entered at 

the diary pickup visit by recall?

 Are there differences in week 1 and week 2 completion rates for online 

diaries compared to paper diaries?

 Are there differences in data entry patterns for online diaries compared to 

paper diaries?

 Are there demographic differences between online diary users and those 

who are online-eligible but chose to complete the paper diary?
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Key features of the LSF

 Large-scale test of Online Diary Improvement Project diary 

design 

 Conducted by the Census Bureau

 Return to household diaries

 Two week diary design like in the CED

 Outlet question for recording business where item was 

purchased/consumed 

 Elimination of conditional incentives with token (cash) incentive 

remaining
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Sample size and Procedures

 Sample size: 2500 addresses

 Field period: October 2019-April 2020

 Pre-notification postcard

 Advance letter with $5 cash incentive by priority mail for half 

the sample (incentive experiment)

 Two visits, one for diary placement and one for pickup

 Push to online diary if the household respondent is eligible, if 

they refuse or are ineligible-- they get paper diaries

 Automated email reminders and two calls by interviewer during 

the diary keeping period

 Recall tab in the CAPI instrument for interviewer to record 

additional expenses reported by respondent
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The LSF Online Diary
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Login Screen
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Desktop Expense Entry
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Mobile expense entry
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Expense categories
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Expense entry
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Help and changing the password/username
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Next Steps

 Analysis of results from the LSF

 Based on the results, the decision will be made to implement 

the online diary in the CED in January 2022

 Further refinements of the online diary design based on LSF and 

online testing
Contact Information

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Parvati Krishnamurty

Senior Economist

Branch of Research and Program Development

Consumer Expenditure Survey

krishnamurty.parvati@bls.gov