A Roadmap For Disclosure Avoidance In The Survey Of Income And Program Participation

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is one of the U.S. Census Bureau's major surveys with features making it a uniquely valuable resource for researchers and policy analysts. However, the Census Bureau faces the challenge of protecting the confidentiality of survey respondents which has become increasingly difficult because numerous databases exist with personal identifying information that collectively contain data on household finances, home values, purchasing behavior, and other SIPP-relevant characteristics. A Roadmap for Disclosure Avoidance in the Survey of Income and Program Participation addresses these issues and how to make data from SIPP available to researchers and policymakers while protecting the confidentiality of survey respondents. The report considers factors such as evolving privacy risks, development of new methods for protecting privacy, the nature of the data collected through SIPP, the practice of linking SIPP data with administrative data, the types of data products produced, and the desire to provide timely access to SIPP data. The report seeks to balance minimizing the risk of disclosure against allowing researchers and policymakers to have timely access to data that support valid inferences.

This book evaluates changes needed to improve the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Conducted by the Census Bureau, SIPP is a major continuing survey that is designed to provide information about the economic well-being of the U.S. population and its need for and participation in government assistance programs (e.g., social security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, AFDC). This volume considers the goals for the survey, the survey and sample design, data collection and processing systems, publications and other data products, analytical techniques for using the data, the methodological research and evaluation to implement and assess the redesign, and the management of the program at the Census Bureau.

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a national, longitudinal household survey conducted by the Census Bureau. SIPP serves as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of government-sponsored social programs and to analyze the impacts of actual or proposed modifications to those programs. SIPP was designed to fill a need for data that would give policy makers and researchers a much better grasp of how effectively government programs were reaching their target populations, how participation in different programs overlapped, and to what extent and under what circumstances people transitioned into and out of these programs. SIPP was also designed to answer questions about the short-term dynamics of employment, living arrangements, and economic well-being. The Census Bureau has reengineered SIPPâ€"fielding the initial redesigned survey in 2014. This report evaluates the new design compared with the old design. It compares key estimates across the two designs, evaluates the content of the redesigned SIPP and the impact of the new design on respondent burden, and considers content changes for future improvement of SIPP.

Beginning in 2006, the Census Bureau embarked on a program to reengineer the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to reduce its costs and improve data quality and timeliness. The Bureau also requested the National Academies to consider the advantages and disadvantages of strategies for linking administrative records and survey data, taking account of the accessibility of relevant administrative records, the operational feasibility of linking, the quality and usefulness of the linked data, and the ability to provide access to the linked data while protecting the confidentiality of individual respondents. In response, this volume first examines the history of SIPP and reviews the survey's purpose, value, strengths, and weaknesses. The book examines alternative uses of administrative records in a reengineered SIPP and, finally, considers innovations in SIPP design and data collection, including the proposed use of annual interviews with an event history calendar.

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a national, longitudinal household survey conducted by the Census Bureau. SIPP serves as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of government-sponsored social programs and to analyze the impacts of actual or proposed modifications to those programs. SIPP was designed to fill a need for data that would give policy makers and researchers a much better grasp of how effectively government programs were reaching their target populations, how participation in different programs overlapped, and to what extent and under what circumstances people transitioned into and out of these programs. SIPP was also designed to answer questions about the short-term dynamics of employment, living arrangements, and economic well-being. The Census Bureau has reengineered SIPPâ€"fielding the initial redesigned survey in 2014. This report evaluates the new design compared with the old design. It compares key estimates across the two designs, evaluates the content of the redesigned SIPP and the impact of the new design on respondent burden, and considers content changes for future improvement of SIPP.