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Acknowledgments US Department of Transportation - BTS

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AccuracyAs in all surveys, the accuracy <strong>of</strong> producer price indexes depends on the quality <strong>of</strong> information voluntarily provided byparticipating establishments. One <strong>of</strong> the accuracy concerns <strong>of</strong> BLS revolves around the preferred use <strong>of</strong> realistictransaction prices (including discounts, premiums, rebates, allowances, etc.) rather than list or book prices. BeforeBLS fully changed its data collection method in 1986, a survey indicated that about 20 percent <strong>of</strong> traditionalcommodity indexes were based on list prices. The newer and more systematic methodology decreased the use <strong>of</strong> listprices. BLS documentation (available at http://stats.bls.gov/opub/hom) provided no more details on sampling error,response rates, or the availability <strong>of</strong> generalized variance parameters or techniques for estimating them.TABLE 3-15. Personal Expenditures by CategoryTABLE 3-16. Personal Consumption Expenditures on <strong>Transportation</strong> by SubcategoryData used in these tables are from the Bureau <strong>of</strong> Labor Statistics, Annual Report <strong>of</strong> Consumer Expenditure Survey.The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) collects information from U.S. households and families on their buyinghabits (expenditures), income, and consumer characteristics. The strength <strong>of</strong> the survey is that it allows data users torelate the expenditures and income <strong>of</strong> consumers to the characteristics <strong>of</strong> those consumers. BLS uses 11 standardcharacteristics to classify consumers, including income, before-tax income class, age, size <strong>of</strong> the consumer unit,composition <strong>of</strong> the consumer unit, number <strong>of</strong> earners, housing tenure, race, type <strong>of</strong> area (urban or rural), region, andoccupation.The CEX is a national probability sample <strong>of</strong> households. The sampling frame (i.e., the list from which housing unitsare chosen) for this survey is generated from the 1990 census 100-percent detail file, which is augmented by asample drawn from new construction permits. Coverage improvement techniques are also utilized to eliminaterecognized deficiencies in the census.Data CollectionThe current survey consists <strong>of</strong> two separate surveys (Interview and Diary), each utilizing a different data collectiontechnique and sample. Data is collected for each survey from approximately 5,000 households. In the Interviewsurvey, each consumer unit (CU) in the sample is interviewed every three months over five calendar quarters. Theinterviewer uses a structured questionnaire to collect both the demographic and expenditure data in the Interviewsurvey. The interviewer collects the demographic data in the Diary survey whereas the respondent enters theexpenditure data on the diary form. Both surveys accept proxy responses from any eligible household member who isat least 16 years old if an adult is not available after a few attempts to contact that person. The respondent familycompletes the Diary (or recordkeeping) survey at home for two consecutive one-week periods.A reinterview program for the CEX provides quality control. The program provides a means <strong>of</strong> evaluating individualinterviewer performance to determine how well the procedures are being carried out in the field. A member <strong>of</strong> thesupervisory staff conducts the reinterview. Subsamples <strong>of</strong> approximately 6 percent <strong>of</strong> households in the Interviewsurvey and 17 percent in the Diary survey are reinterviewed on an ongoing basis. A new diary form with morecategories and expanded use <strong>of</strong> cues for respondents was introduced in 1991, based on results from earlier field andlaboratory studies.EstimationMissing or invalid data on demographic or work experience are imputed. No imputation is done for missing data onexpenditures or income. Selected portions <strong>of</strong> the Diary data are also adjusted by automated imputation and allocationroutines when respondents report insufficient detail to meet publication requirements. These procedures areperformed annually on the data. The imputation routines assign qualifying information to data items when there isclear evidence <strong>of</strong> invalid nonresponse.The statistical estimation <strong>of</strong> the population quantities <strong>of</strong> interest, such as the average expenditure on a particular itemby a CU or the total number <strong>of</strong> CUs in a particular demographic group, is conducted via a weighting scheme. EachCU included in the survey is assigned a weight that is interpreted as representing the number <strong>of</strong> similar families in theuniverse <strong>of</strong> interest, the U.S. civilian noninstitutional population. Readers should refer tohttp://stats.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch16 c.htm for the detailed weighting method.

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