Can Internet Surveys Mimic Food Insecurity Rates Published by the US Government?

Abstract

Food insecurity in the US is measured by the US government using a true probability sample of US citizens. While ideal, some researchers may consider cheaper opt-in internet surveys. This study measures food insecurity rates using three opt-in internet surveys and compares the measured rates to those reported by the US government. When sample balancing and the screening procedure employed by the US government is used, the internet survey overstates the percent of food insecure households by 9-14%. However, if one assumes all households with incomes above 185% of the poverty line are food secure, rates are closer to the US government estimates.

Measuring Food Insecurity during the COVID‐19 Pandemic of Spring 2020

“…By using a more stringent screening process than that used by the USDA one can obtain insecurity numbers that closely resemble the USDA numbers for 2016 and 2017. The two years of prior experience with the ASN survey, however, suggests that it will still overpredict the percentage of food insecure households by 2%–3% (Ahn, Smith, and Norwood 2020).…”

“…This is the identical questionnaire used by the USDA in its official food insecurity estimates (ERS 2012). We follow the same protocol as Ahn, Smith, and Norwood (2020) for translating the ten to eighteen responses for each household into to one of four food security status groups: high food security, marginal food security, low food security, and very low food security. A household is then considered food insecure if the status is low or very low.…”

“…A household is then considered food insecure if the status is low or very low. Details on the questions and this protocol are discussed fully in Ahn, Smith, and Norwood (2020).…”

“…We previously administered the identical food security questionnaires in 2016 and 2017, allowing us to compare May 2020 rates to those in recent years where economic conditions were more normal. Table 1 shows the demographic profile of the respondents in the May 2020 survey compared to our similar surveys in December of 2016 and 2017 (Ahn, Smith, and Norwood 2020). A number of demographics are consistent across surveys, like income and gender.…”

“…Or would the state and governmental measures to mitigate the damages of the pandemic, accompanied by greater efforts in the food charity system, keep food insecurity in check? To answer this question, we conducted an internet survey on May 13–14, 2020 measuring food security following the methods in Ahn, Smith, and Norwood (2020). It is referred to as the ASN survey.…”