Creating a “User-Friendly” Expenditure Diary

Jeanette Davis is a senior economist in the Branch of Research and Program Development, Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys, Bureau of Labor Statistics. LINDA STINSON NHIEN TO JEANETTE DAVIS Interest in American expenditures has a long history dating back to the late 1800s, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) first looked at the economic welfare of our early immigrants. Today, BLS is mandated to report detailed information on all the ways in which Americans spend their money. The Consumer Expenditure Diary (CED, Diary) is the instrument used to collect information on the many purchases made each week by sampled households. When it comes to reporting detailed expenditure information, not all purchases are equally easy to remember and record. Some expenditures, such as daily busfare, are often part of a “work commute” mental script and may be readily recalled. Other purchases, like sodas and snacks from vending machines, tend to be more mundane, buried within the concerns of daily activities, and more easily overlooked. The diary mode of data collection has long been recognized as an especially useful tool for collecting daily records of these types of frequent, low-salience purchases before they are forgotten. The diary also makes it possible to collect followup details on purchases that can be used to produce the weights for the Consumer Price Index.1 Such information would be difficult, if not impossible, to collect accurately without some means of recording the purchases during the week as they occur. Over time, numerous economic researchers have adopted a diary approach to track household consumption, gauge reactions to new products appearing on the market, and observe social trends. Through their work, it has become abundantly clear that diaries are useful data collection tools. However, in order to attract and keep respondents, a diary must be user friendly and actively engage the respondents’ interest in the data-reporting task.