Advances in Longitudinal Survey Methodology

14Improving Survey Measurement of Household Finances: A Review of New Data Sources and Technologies

Annette Jäckle¹, Mick P. Couper², Alessandra Gaia³, and Carli Lessof⁴

¹Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

²Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

³Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano‐Bicocca, Milan, Italy

⁴Department of Social Statistics and Demography, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

14.1 Introduction

There is widespread interest in the potential of process‐generated data and new technologies to provide new data sources for research, whether to replace or supplement traditional surveys. These include data organically generated by social media (e.g. Facebook or Twitter), administrative processes of private companies (e.g. credit rating data), or local and national government (e.g. health, education, or benefit records), and data collected with new technologies (e.g. smartphone apps or sensors). These new data sources already exist or are typically considered cheap to collect; often contain large volumes of data; may provide good quality objective data; may be measured passively; may measure concepts that cannot easily be captured with survey questions; or measure concepts in greater detail. For longitudinal surveys, such data can be particularly valuable, as they can provide more detailed information about changes over time. In reality, there are also several ...