Abstract

Family Income and Expenditures Surveys (FIES) are conducted every three years by the National Statistics Office. FIES publications make possible the analysis of the income and expenditure pattern of Filipino families which form part of inputs to formulation of development policies, plans and programs. However, results of the FIES had been subjected to criticism raising issues concerning validity and accuracy of published information. Specifically, the objectives of the study were: (1) to review or assess the documentation, implementation and data quality of past FIES; (2) to determine the attitude of a sample of respondents towards the 1988 FIES; (3) to examine the content and structure of the instruments used for three identified methods; and (4) to submit recommendations for the selection of methodology for the succeeding FIES for improvement of instruments, tabulation design and sampling. Recommendations with regard to questionnaire design included further study on the reduction of the physical size of the questionnaire, inclusion of translation into the dialect of some key terminologies, and use of proxy indicators for clusters of items.