The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is an on-going nationally representative household survey program of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. It provides comprehensive information on the economic resources of the American people and on how public transfer and tax programs affect t heir financial circumstances. The data from the SIPP provide government policymakers with an information base for studying government tax and transfer programs, for estimating future program costs and coverage, and for assessing the effects of proposed policy changes. The SIPP is designed to improve the measurement of information related to the economic situation of households and persons in the United States, and is the culmination of a 1arge-scale development program, the Income Survey Development Program (ISDP) , which examined concepts, procedures, questionnaires, and recall periods (Ycas and Lininger, 1981).

The need for a survey like SIPP arose because of the limitations of the March Income Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS), the principal source of information on the distribution of household and personal income in the United States. These limitations are inherent in the survey design, survey instrument, and survey procedures and can not be easily modified. As a consequence the Income Survey Development Program was established in 1975 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop methods to overcome the principal shortcomings of the CPS--1) the underreporting of property income and other irregular sources of income; 2) the underreporting and misclassification of participation in major income security programs and other types of information that people generally find difficult to report accurately (for example, monthly detail on income earned during the year); and 3) the lack of information necessary to analyze program participation and eligibi1ity. Several features distinguish the f ield tests of the ISDP from other data collections, particularly the CPS. They include: 1) interviews were obtained at regular intervals within a year; 2) most types of income were reported on a monthly basis; 3) income was reported on an individual basis; 4) individuals were followed over the survey period to obtain data on changes in income and family composition; and 5) information was collected on special topics such as disability, child care, fertility, net worth, and taxes paid to provide insight into the context of program benefits, program dependency, and overall economic well-being. Because the ISDP was the predecessor to SIPP, many characteristics of the ISDP can be seen in the SIPP, including the survey design, content, and questionnaire format.

This paper provides basic background information on the survey design and content as a prelude t o its more specific goal of reviewing specific methodological, survey design, and statistical issues of concern to the program, including (1) questionnaire design; (2) data collection, including respondent rules, data collection mode, length of reference period, and rules for following movers; (3) concepts, design, and estimation; and (4) response error.