Studies of Welfare Populations : Data Collection and Research Issues - Panel on Data and Methods for Measuring the Effects of Changes in Social Welfare Programs

by National Research Center; Moffit, Robert A.; Citro, Constance F.; Panel on Data and Methods for Measuring the Effects of Changes in soci; Ver Ploeg, Michede

• ISBN13: 9780309076234
• ISBN10: 0309076234
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Natl Academy Pr

Summary

This volume, a companion to Evaluating Welfare Reform in an Era of Transition, is a collection of papers on data collection issues for welfare and low-income populations. The papers on survey issues cover methods for designing surveys taking into account nonresponse in advance, obtaining high response rates in telephone surveys, obtaining high response rates in in-person surveys, the effects of incentive payments, methods for adjusting for missing data in surveys of low-income populations, and measurement error issues in surveys, with a special focus on recall error. The papers on administrative data cover the issues of matching and cleaning, access and confidentiality, problems in measuring employment and income, and the availability of data on children. The papers on welfare leavers and welfare dynamics cover a comparison of existing welfare leaver studies, data from the state of Wisconsin on welfare leavers, and data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth used to construct measures of heterogeneity in the welfare population based on the recipient's own welfare experience. A final paper discusses qualitative data.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(12)
Robert A. Moffitt
Constance F. Citro
Michele Ver Ploeg
PART I SURVEY DATA
Designing Surveys Acknowledging Nonresponse	13	(42)
Robert M. Groves
Mick P. Couper
Methods for Obtaining High Response Rates in Telephone Surveys	55	(31)
David Cantor
Patricia Cunningham
High Response Rates for Low-Income Population In-Person Surveys	86	(19)
Charlene Weiss
Barbara A. Bailar
Paying Respondents for Survey Participation	105	(24)
Eleanor Singer
Richard A. Kulka
Adjusting for Missing Data in Low-Income Surveys	129	(28)
Leyla Mohadjer
G. Hussain Choudhry
Measurement Error in Surveys of the Low-Income Population	157	(40)
Nancy A. Mathiowetz
Charlie Brown
John Bound
PART II ADMINISTRATIVE DATA
Matching and Cleaning Administrative Data	197	(23)
Robert M. Goerge
Bong Joo Lee
Access and Confidentiality Issues with Administrative Data	220	(55)
Henry E. Brady
Susan A. Grand
M. Anne Powell
Werner Schink
Measuring Employment and Income for Low-Income Populations with Administrative and Survey Data	275	(41)
V. Joseph Hotz
John Karl Scholz
Administrative Data on the Well-Being of Children On and Off Welfare	316	(39)
Richard Barth
Eleanor Locklin-Brown
Stephanie Cuccaro-Alamin
Barbara Needell
PART III QUALITATIVE DATA
The Right (Soft) Stuff: Qualitative Methods and the Study of Welfare Reform	355	(32)
Katherine S. Newman
PART IV WELFARE LEAVERS AND WELFARE DYNAMICS
Studies of Welfare Leavers: Data, Methods, and Contributions to the Policy Process	387	(28)
Gregory Acs
Pamela Loprest
Preexit Benefit Receipt and Employment Histories and Postexit Outcomes of Welfare Leavers	415	(58)
Michele Ver Ploeg
Experienced-Based Measures of Heterogeneity in the Welfare Caseload	473	(28)
Robert A. Moffitt
Appendix: Agenda of the Workshop on Data Collection for Low-Income and Welfare Populations	501	(6)
Index	507