Abstract
Income is an important correlate for numerous phenomena in the social
sciences. But many surveys collect data with just a single question
covering all forms of income. This raises questions over the reliability
of the data that are collected. Issues of reliability are heightened
when individuals are asked about the household total rather than
own income alone. We argue that the large literature on measuring
incomes has not devoted enough attention to âsingle-questionâ
surveys. We investigate the reliability of single-question data by
using the UK Office for National Statistics's Omnibus survey and
the British Social Attitudes survey as examples. We compare the distributions
of income in these surveysâindividual income in the Omnibus and
household income in the British Social Attitudes surveyâwith those
in two larger UK surveys that measure income in much greater detail.
Distributions compare less well for household income than for individual
income. Disaggregation by gender proves fruitful in much of the analysis.
We also establish levels of item non-response to the income question
in single-question surveys from a wide range of countries.
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