Estimation With Response Error and Nonresponse

Abstract

Error in survey data originates from failure to contact the sample and from false answers to verifiable questions. These errors may be systematic and associated with uncooperative or unreliable respondents. Zabel modeled attrition in the Survey of Income and Program Participation and found systematic demographic and design effects. Bollinger and David modeled response error and identified correlations to income per capita. In this analysis, we link missing interviews in a panel and response error through a trivariate probit analysis. Robustness of the correlation between attrition and response error is examined by comparing variants of the model. The joint model of response error and attrition becomes the first stage of a pseudolikelihood estimate of a model of food-stamp participation. The model is significantly different from naive probit on the survey data.