Review of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey Questionnaire
Author: Lisa Grace S. Bersales, Sabrina O. Romasoc, Maegan S. Saroca & Marie Nadeen R. Martinez
Abstract:
The Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) is a national survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) every three years. The survey collects information on the complete range of income and expenditure of Filipino households. The statistics drawn from this survey are deemed vital for policy making and serve various purposes, such as estimation of official poverty statistics, computation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and estimation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It also provides data for various research needs of stakeholders other than the government. However, as in other surveys on the Philippine household population, the FIES is vulnerable to non-sampling errors; in particular, under-reporting or over-reporting of income and expenditure. The paper aims to provide recommendations to improve the quality of data collected from the survey through reduction in non-sampling errors, with a particular focus on respondent burden due to the length of the questionnaire. Through desk review and key informant interviews, the paper discusses the utilization of the questionnaire sections by various stakeholders, specifically determining which section may be removed or revised.
Keywords:Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), household expenditure, household income, questionnaire, key informant interviews