The Validity of Income Reported by a Sample of Families Who Received Welfare Assistance during 1959

Abstract

The author collaborated on a nationwide study of low-income families conducted by the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan. One of the primary purposes of this study was to determine some of the factors which are responsible for the low-income position of the 16 per cent of the nation's families who receive less than $2,000 a year.¹ Information on the incomes of low-income families with heads of working age was collected from a nationwide sample by personal interview techniques. Any bias in the reporting of income creates serious problems for such a study. Underreporting of income by low-income families would lead the analyst to believe that a higher proportion of families live on low incomes than is actually the case.

The investigation reported here provides a check on one particular form of bias in the reporting of incomes—underreporting of income from public welfare assistance by families whose head is of working age.² Bias in reporting of that income resulted in approximately 20 per cent underreporting.