SIPP is a complex longitudinal survey that is continually addressing sample attrition and nonresponse bias. The 2022 SIPP continued to face data collection complications because of increasing costs and a general lower-than-average unit response rate nationally.

To monitor and improve data quality during collection, SIPP’s geographic Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) are reviewed to identify areas that have insufficient representation (coverage). Adaptive design case prioritization and active field management are used to achieve both an increase in representativeness and ensure a minimum level of coverage. Even with these data collection mitigations, the low unit response rate in 2022 SIPP led to item response rates and coverage ratios that do not meet the Census Bureau’s Statistical Quality Standards.

The SIPP program creates weights designed to adjust for nonresponse and to control weighted counts to independent population estimates by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin. However, the magnitude of the increase in (and differential nature of) nonresponse during 2022 data collection likely reduces their efficacy. As a result, data users should use caution when creating estimates using 2022 SIPP data, including the longitudinal 2020 and 2021 Panel subsamples.

Additional information on nonresponse bias for data collected in calendar year 2022 will be available in the upcoming Nonresponse Bias Report for Calendar Year 2022 of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. More details about 2022 SIPP’s unit response rate, sample attrition, and item response rates for SIPP’s key estimates are forthcoming.

The SIPP program is undertaking work in several areas that will support the quality and scope of estimates the program produces in the future. First, administrative records use in data processing, editing, and imputation allows for the application of external distributions to improve imputation and final data quality. The SIPP program is working to develop weighting enhanced by administrative data, providing external distributions in addition to traditional population controls, to adjust for non-response bias in dimensions not represented in standard weighting adjustments. The SIPP program is also working on the development of small-area estimates based on SIPP content (e.g., wealth, work arrangements, assets, and program use) and leveraging the American Community Survey and administrative data as a foundation. This type of data product allows for estimates at a lower geographical level while keeping the sample size and cost at more moderate levels. This type of work is part of the longer-term plan to meet data quality requirements along with user needs.

In addition, the SIPP program is beginning to consider redesign options that will enable the program to address several issues that have grown over recent years. The ‘Seamless’ initiative is focused on shifting to year-round interviewing to reduce the burden created by the hiring cycle. The initiative also has a goal to shift to a design that can support multi-mode interviewing. The design changes focus on both operational and content aspects of data quality, the respondent experience, the data product portfolio, and long-term program stability.