FR3059.200607.omb.PartB

Supporting Statement Part B for the

2007 Survey of Consumer Finances

(FR 3059; OMB No. 7100-0295)

Statistical Methods

For the pretest, NORC would interview no more than 400 households based on samples they would select. After the pretest, NORC would forward the data collected to the Federal Reserve and would conduct a formal debriefing of interviewers and others involved in the administration of the survey. In response to issues that emerge at this point, NORC would revise procedures for the main survey in consultation with the Federal Reserve.

For the main survey, NORC and the Federal Reserve would draw samples for the survey designed to obtain at most 5,600 completed interviews. The sample selected by NORC would be an area-probability design, a type of geographically-structured random sample that provides good national coverage of widely-distributed behavior. The sample selected by the Federal Reserve would be drawn from statistical records derived from individual tax returns; this sample would be designed to over-sample wealthy families. Both samples would be selected in a way that is consistent with procedures used in earlier SCFs. Interviewing for the survey is scheduled to take place between May 2007 and January 2008, with interviews averaging approximately 75 minutes.

The survey questionnaire is designed to collect information consistent with that collected in the earlier SCFs. This instrument would provide a comprehensive view of the finances of U.S. households.

NORC would select, train, and supervise interviewers during the execution of the survey in areas selected throughout the continental United States. Over the course of the field-period, NORC would regularly transmit the information collected by interviewers to the Federal Reserve. At the end of the field-period, NORC would provide the Federal Reserve with the final data along with coded equivalents of verbatim respondent answers.

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