Methodological considerations for a new household panel survey
Issue title: Assessing the need for a new nationally representative household
panel survey in the United States
Subtitle:
Guest editors: Robert Moffitt, Robert F. Schoeni, Charles Brown, P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Mick P. Couper, Ana V. Diez-Roux, Erik Hurst and Judith A. Seltzer
Affiliations: [a] Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA | [b] Westat 1600 Research Blvd. Rockville, MD, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Kristen Olson, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 703 Oldfather Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324, USA. Tel.: +1 402 472 6057; Fax: +1 402 472 6070; E-mail:kolson5@unl.edu
Abstract: This paper identifies new opportunities for innovation and expansion on
current survey practice in the design of a new household panel survey,
including an increased use of new and mobile technologies, more frequent
data collection, modified clustering, and use of non-traditional survey
measures such as administrative data, planned missing/matrix sampling
questionnaire design, real-time data collection, and biomarkers. These
innovative data collection methods require rethinking traditional panel
survey methods, but can help reduce respondent burden and expand on current
social science knowledge. The paper concludes that a new household panel
survey would improve knowledge about important social, economic and health
issues facing the US, and would provide a useful test bed for new hypotheses
and innovative methods of data collection.
Keywords: New household panel survey, survey methodology, survey design
