FR3059_20150428_omb_B

Supporting Statement B for the
2016 Survey of Consumer Finances
(FR 3059; OMB No. 7100-0287)
Overview of Statistical Methods
Statistical Methods
For the pretest, the contractor would interview no more than 150 households based on
samples they would select. After the pretest, the contractor would forward the data collected to
the Federal Reserve and would conduct a formal debriefing of interviewers and others involved
in the administration of the surveys. In response to issues that emerge, the contractor would
revise procedures for the main survey in consultation with Federal Reserve.
For the main survey, the contractor and the Federal Reserve would draw samples for the
survey designed to obtain at most 7,000 completed interviews. The sample selected by the
contractor would be an area-probability design which is a type of geographically structured
random sample that provides good national coverage of widely-distributed behavior. The sample
selected by the Federal Reserve would be drawn from statistical records derived from individual
tax returns; this sample would be designed to oversample wealthy families. Both samples would
be selected in a way that is consistent with procedures used in earlier SCFs. Interviewing for the
survey is scheduled to take place between April 2016 and March 2017, with interviews
averaging approximately 75 minutes.
The survey questionnaire is designed to collect information consistent with that collected
in the earlier SCFs. This instrument would provide a comprehensive view of the finances of
U.S. households. The instrument also contains a special protocol developed to ensure the quality
of the information collected.1
The contractor would select, train, and supervise interviewers during the execution of the
survey in areas selected throughout the continental United States. Over the course of the fieldperiod, the contractor would regularly transmit the information collected by interviewers to the
Federal Reserve. At the end of the field-period, the contractor would provide the Federal
Reserve with the final data along with coded equivalents of verbatim respondent answers.
Financial information is often viewed by survey respondents as quite sensitive.
Moreover, some respondents, particularly very wealthy ones, are often very hard to contact even
to request an interview. Consequently, nonresponse to the survey, both nonresponse to
individual questions and nonresponse to the entire survey, is an important factor. In accordance
with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidelines for collection of survey data, the
SCF has a long history of research into the causes and possible biases induced by nonresponse.
Technical adjustments accounting for nonresponse have been developed for the analysis of the
data and these adjustments are routinely made available to all users of the data.

1

The protocol is an elaborate set of computer-driven edit checks that take place during each interview.

The SCF data are collected solely for statistical purposes under a pledge of
confidentiality. That is, no use is made of the data that would directly affect any survey
participant outside the administration of the survey. As required by the Confidential Information
Protection Act (when agencies other than the major statistical agencies use a contractor for data
collection), the survey information is processed within an officially designated statistical unit of
the government, which includes the Microeconomic Surveys section of the Division of Research
and Statistics.

2