The 2014 Redesign of the Survey of Income and Program Participation : An Assessment

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 SIPP—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. Table of ContentsFront MatterSummary1 Introduction2 Background and Panel's Activities3 Uses of SIPP4 The Questionnaire: Instrumentation and Flow5 Methodological Enhancements6 Adequacy of the Content of the 2014 SIPP7 Quality of Key Estimates8 Impact on Respondent Burden9 Additional Comments and RecommendationsReferencesAppendix A: Joint Distribution of Topic FlagsAppendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and StaffCommittee on National Statistics