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SIPP Longitudinal Household Estimation for the Proposed Longitudinal Definition

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Working Paper Number SEHSD-WP1986-04 or SIPP-WP-13

Introduction

In [1] and [3] weighting procedures were developed for obtaining unbiased longitudinal household (LHH) and family estimates for SIPP. As noted in these papers and also in [2], except for certain LHH definitions it does not appear possible with the original SIPP operating procedures to develop an unbiased weighting procedure without serious drawbacks. These drawbacks include the assignment of positive weights to some LHH's that were not in sample for their entire period of existence during the life of the panel, or the lack of sufficient information to assign weights to some LHH's because some of the necessary information pertained to time periods when the LHH's were not in sample. These previous papers were handicapped by the fact that the choice among weighting methods and the changes in operational procedures necessary to overcome the problems just described are dependent on the LHH definition adopted for SIPP, and no LHH definition had been agreed upon at the time these papers were written. Now, however, a definition does exist which has been tentatively adopted (Attachment A). Although this particular definition does require changes in SIPP operating procedures in order to obtain unbiased estimates without the drawbacks previously mentioned, only two relatively simple changes are required. One of these changes has already been implemented for this purpose and the other is planned.

In Section 2 of this paper, unbiased weighting will be discussed. This discussion will include details of the necessary operational changes and the reasons for them. Two unbiased weighting procedures appropriate for use with the modified operational procedures are described and compared. Several other unbiased weight procedures that were previously described in [3] are also discussed.

In Section 3 a set of proposed adjustments to the set of unbiased LHH weights is detailed. All of the adjustment steps typically found in the demographic surveys conducted by the Census Bureau are included, but there are also some important complications that are unique to SIPP LHH estimation.

Basic knowledge of SIPP, including the design of this survey, which can be obtained from [10], is assumed in this paper. Also assumed is a general understanding, which can be obtained from [5], of the various stages of weighting commonly used in the demographic surveys conducted by the Census Bureau.

Page Last Revised - January 8, 2024
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