The National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle IV, evaluation of linked design

Research was undertaken to quantify the effects of costs of alternative methods for selecting sample women for the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). This report presents estimates of the effects of alternative design options, obtained by statistical modeling techniques, for linking the NSFG with the NHIS; the cost data and the statistical precision of estimates were based on data from the NSFG, Cycle IV. The estimated survey costs and projected response rates for alternative linked design options and for the unlinked design are compared for fixed precision. The findings confirm that substantial gains in the NSFG design efficiency were obtained by linking the NSFG sample design to that of the NHIS.