Analysis of the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement Split-Panel Test

Alisha Coleman-Jensen and Matthew P. Rabbitt

No 338947, Technical Bulletins from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has monitored the extent and severity of food insecurity in U.S. households for more than 25 years. Data on food security is collected annually as part of the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS). USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) undertook a process to update the survey instrument used for CPS-FSS data collection to ensure that questions accurately reflect respondent engagement with the current food environment and to decrease nonresponse on select questions and lower respondent burden. The updated instrument was created through a process of expert content review and cognitive testing and implemented by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census in a split-panel data collection in September 2020. A portion of the survey sample received the revised survey instrument, and the other portion received the standard survey instrument, which was implemented in 1995 and has been consistent since 2008. This process ensured that any unforeseen outcomes of the revisions did not affect the annual food security estimates that USDA, ERS produced. The split panel forms two samples that were weighted to represent the U.S. population. Estimates for food spending, food security, and participation in Federal and community nutrition assistance were compared. Based on the analysis of the split-panel test, the test instrument performed well. The differences observed in the test and the standard instrument for food spending and community nutrition assistance were expected, given the changes in the survey questions. The food security measure is based on the Rasch measurement model. Rasch analysis was used to assess the comparability of the food security questions across the split-panel samples. The analysis confirmed that the minor changes to the food security section are unlikely to affect the measurement of food insecurity or affect the comparability of year-to-year estimates.

Keywords: Food Security and Poverty; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 63
Date: 2023-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uerstb:338947

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.338947

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