Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Policy leaders today look to quality data and statistics to help inform and guide programmatic decisions. As a result, assessing the quality and validity of major household surveys in capturing accurate program participation is essential. One method for evaluating survey quality is to compare self-reported program participation in surveys to administrative records from the program itself. In this paper, we are interested in understanding two issues. First, how closely do self-reported Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participation and benefit amounts in the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), as well as SNAP and TANF participation and benefit amounts corrected for underreporting with the Transfer Income Model, version 3 (TRIM3), align with state-level administrative records. Second, how does replacing values from the CPS ASEC with TRIM3 values or administrative records for SNAP change poverty measurement in the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).