Look again: Editing and imputation of SCF panel data

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kennickell, Arthur B.

Affiliations: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Ret.), Washington, DC 20551, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: In 2009, a re-interview with participants in the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) was undertaken to provide information on the effects of the financial crisis on households. The panel questionnaire was designed to maximize comparability with the earlier data. The subject matter of the survey, wealth and related issues, is often considered sensitive or conceptually difficult. Consequently, editing and imputation of the data are very important considerations. Although the baseline data had already been edited and imputed cross sectionally, they were re-edited along with the new panel data. Similarly, the data for both waves of the survey were imputed jointly. This paper has two goals: to discuss the importance of the re-editing of the baseline data and to gauge the effects of the joint imputation of data from the two waves.

Keywords: Editing, imputation, panel data

DOI: 10.3233/SJI-160268

Journal: Statistical Journal of the IAOS, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 195-202, 2017