A large-scale validation study of measurement errors in longitudinal survey data

摘要

We analyze measurement and classification errors in several key variables in a matched sample of survey and administrative longitudinal data on employees spanning 1994–2001. The data are much more comprehensive than usually seen in validation studies. Measurement errors in earnings are found to be much larger than reported in previous studies limited to one single firm. A key finding is that employees who attrite from the panel report their earnings significantly less accurate than individuals who are observed throughout the entire sampling period.