Improved Estimation of Poisson Rate Distributions through a Multi-Mode Survey Design

Marcin Hitczenko

No 2021-10, FRB Atlanta Working Paper from Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Abstract: Researchers interested in studying the frequency of events or behaviors among a population must rely on count data provided by sampled individuals. Often, this involves a decision between live event counting, such as a behavioral diary, and recalled aggregate counts. Diaries are generally more accurate, but their greater cost and respondent burden generally yield less data. The choice of survey mode, therefore, involves a potential tradeoff between bias and variance of estimators. I use a case study comparing inferences about payment instrument use based on different survey designs to illustrate this dilemma. I then use a simulation study to show how and under what conditions a hybrid survey design can improve efficiency of estimation, in terms of mean-squared error. Overall, this work suggests that such a hybrid design can have considerable benefits as long as there is nontrivial overlap in the diary and recall samples.

Keywords: recall surveys; diaries; bias; mean-squared error; multi-level models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C15 C81 C83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35
Date: 2021-02-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ecm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.frbatlanta.org/-/media/documents/resea ... de-survey-design.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedawp:90080

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from

DOI: 10.29338/wp2021-10

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in FRB Atlanta Working Paper from Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Rob Sarwark ().