SiteMap •  Links • Search

Annex 5 - Some Notes on the Questions Asked in the Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES)

By: Melissa C. Pascua, Social Sectors B Division

The FIES questionnaire is usually comprised of numerous pages that cover income and expenditure items.  The 2000 FIES questionnaire, for instance, has 4 parts and consists of 71 pages, with 42 pages devoted to expenditure and 11 pages, to income.  Part II, the expenditure part, is basically the first set of vital questions asked in the FIES and has 9 major expenditure groups that are further subdivided into several sub-sections.  The 9 major groups are the following:

1. Food, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco
2. Fuel, Light and Water, Transportation and Communication, Household Operations
3. Personal Care and Effects, Clothing, Footwear and other Wear
4. Education, Recreation and Medical Care
5. Furnishings and Equipment
6. Taxes
7. Housing, Home Maintenance and Minor Repairs
8. Miscellaneous Expenditures
9. Other Disbursements

On the other hand, Part III, Income and Other Receipts, consists of 6 groups of questions on income, namely:

1. Salaries and Wages from Employment
2. Net Share of Crops, Fruits and Vegetables Produced or Livestock and Poultry Raised by Other Households
3. Other Sources of Income
4. Other Receipts
5. Checklist for Entrepreneurial and Family Sustenance Activities
6. Family Sustenance Activities

Part IV is concerned with the family’s entrepreneurial activities.

QUESTIONS ON EXPENDITURE

Among the 9 major expenditure groups, the first (Group A) has the most number of sub-sections and therefore asks the most number of details.  The group has 5 sub-sections, (A1 to A5) with the first sub-section alone, food consumed at home, consisting of 9 subdivisions (A1.1 to A1.9), and with each subdivision consisting of at most 17 items (under fresh vegetables). 

With this structure, Group A appears to be the most taxing to the respondents and appears to be the greatest possible source of respondent fatigue.  When questions are more detailed, respondents are likely to remember in more detail, and report higher spending.[1]

The first set of questions on expenditure asked in the FIES is on food consumed at home (A1).  The next set of questions is on food regularly consumed outside home (A2) and there is another section that asked for food items, alcoholic beverages and tobacco received as gifts (A5).  With this structure, the enumerator has to mentally prepare the respondent as soon as interview starts that the first set of questions are strictly on food consumed at home and that there will be succeeding questions on food consumed outside home and those that were received as gifts.  If the enumerator failed to explain this structure or failed to ask the questions properly to the respondent, the latter might give the total consumption.  On the other hand, if the enumerator were able to explain the structure to the respondent very well, the latter is burdened with separating in his mind how much of the past week’s consumption was bought and how much was from gifts, for each of the detailed expenditure food items.  Aside from possibly having a hard time recalling how much was spent for very specific items, the respondent still has to figure out how much of the family’s expenditure were from GIFTS, again, according to the detailed sub-items under each major expenditure item.

Another group that may be relatively taxing to the respondents is Group C, on personal care and effects, clothing, footwear and other wear.  This group has 2 subsections (C1 and C2), with C1 having 7 subdivisions, and with one of these subdivisions having 12 items.  C2 has 5 subdivisions, with one of these subdivisions having the most number of items, at 23.

The respondent to the FIES is the household manager or any member of the household who is responsible in the management of the household finances.  Thus, the accuracy and reliability of the FIES results greatly depends on the accuracy of responses provided by the household manager.  With the structure of the questions on expenditure, the respondent must have complete knowledge of the consumption of his family and the very details of the family’s expenditures.  This means that he has to be aware of details not only of his own consumptions but also that of the members of his family.  Hence, this would not simply be a recall process on the part of the respondent but complete knowledge or awareness of the detailed expenses of each of the family members.

As regards the questions on Group A, the design of the FIES questionnaire might work better in a situation where the respondent is also involved with the food preparation and with the ACTUAL purchase of the expenditure items.  Otherwise, it would be difficult for him to account for expenses for some small items like salt and pepper and also with some bigger items like vegetables as he still has to remember or know the amount spent for each vegetable type. 

Granting that the respondent may have complete knowledge of what the family consumes, he may have a hard time providing information on expenditure for private consumption items like sanitary napkins, razor blade, deodorant, cigarettes. 

On the next page is a sample question on expenditure lifted from the 2000 FIES:

A1.  FOOD CONSUMED AT HOME

A1.1  CEREALS AND CEREAL PREPARATIONS

(a)   During the period specified, did you or any member of your family consume cereals and cereal preparations?

1 – YES 2 – NO, GO TO PAGE 6 (A1.2)

A1.1   1 – YES   2 – NO, GO TO PAGE 6 (A1.2)

(b) On the AVERAGE, how much is your WEEKLY consumption of the following?

Among these 6 groups, Group C as the most number of subdivisions at 11, with no further subdivisions.  It must be noted that for the purpose of poverty monitoring, not all items under Group C as considered as family income.

Since the staple food of Filipinos is rice, the past week’s consumption of rice is relatively easy to recall.  The same is true with bread because this is also a food item commonly and regularly consumed by Filipinos.

However, the details of the family’s consumption of corn, for instance, as to corn on the cob, whole grain corn, or corn grits may not be that easy.

If flour is consumed, the respondent has to still identify the flour type and it may be doubtful whether most of the respondents, if not all, care about the flour type unless he is the one involved in the food preparation and probably, purchase of the item

For other cereal preparations, the respondent has to know or recall the amount spent for ready-mixed noodle soup.  He also has to know the amount spent for junk foods.  Being the financial manager, he may completely know the amount given to some family members especially the kids but he may not be completely knowledgeable on whether the kids bought junk foods or not.

Another point of concern on the expenditure questions is on the reference period for some items leading to disproportionate blowing up.  This particularly concerns items not that regularly consumed, such as maintenance and repair of cars, repair of household appliances.  The reference period here is past month and this is blown to a semester’s equivalent.  These expenditure items may not be as regular as monthly. 

QUESTIONS ON INCOME

Among the 6 groups of questions on income, Group C has the most number of subdivisions at 11, but unlike the questions on expenditure, these 11 items have no further subdivisions.  (It must be noted that for the purpose of poverty monitoring, not all items under Group C are considered as family income.)

The structure of the questions on income is relatively not that taxing and tedious to the respondent.  Compared with questions on expenditure, it can be noted that the questions on income are much simpler. 

Most of the major items asked for income are basically supported by documents and hence, recall may not be that difficult as is the case with expenditure items. 

Workers, especially those who receive salaries and wages from regular employment, are usually aware right at the beginning of their work, contract or term how much they are going to receive. 

Recalling salaries and wages from seasonal/occasional employment may not be as easy as with the regular employment but still, workers can be expected to normally keep track of their salaries and wages received even if the work is only done on an occasional basis. 

A worker entering into a kind of arrangement where he would be paid in terms of share in the crops, fruits and vegetables produced or livestock and poultry raised by other households also normally knows right at the beginning of the negotiations or agreement, whether formal or informal, the share he is to receive for the work he would render. 

Most of the items falling under other sources of income are normally supported by documents and thus facilitates recall for the respondent.  Cash from abroad are usually through banks or through money transfers.  Money that is requested to be brought along by overseas workers coming home to the country is normally also tracked by the family and the family member who sent the money.  Even pensions, retirement benefits and the like are backed by documents.  Even if the support is coming from domestic sources, a family still normally tracks amounts received.

Below is a sample question on income from the 2000 FIES:

A1.  SALARIES AND WAGES FROM REGULAR EMPLOYMENT

A1.1  Agricultural

During the PERIOD SPECIFIED, did you or any member of your family receive regularly salaries and wages from employment in agricultural sectors, in cash (including allowances, honoraria, tips, bonus, commissions and others) and in kind (including housing, food, grocery, clothing, medical benefits, etc.)?

1 – YES    2 – NO, GO TO A1.2 BELOW

Line No.	First name of family member	Occu-pation	(Occu-pation Code)	Kind of Industry	(Industry Code)	CASH EARNINGS			EARNINGS IN KIND
						Basic salaries  and wages	Allow-ances, honoraria, tips, etc.	Total	Basic salaries and wages	Housing, clothing, food, etc.	Total
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)	(11)	(12)
				TOTAL

A1.2 Non-agricultural

During the PERIOD SPECIFIED, did you or any member of your family receive regularly salaries and wages from employment in non-agricultural sectors, in cash (including allowances, honoraria, tips, bonus, commissions and others) and in kind (including housing, food, grocery, clothing, medical benefits, etc.)?

1 – YES    2 – NO, GO TO PAGE 48 (A2)

Line No.	First name of family member	Occu-pation	(Occu-pation Code)	Kind of Industry	(Industry Code)	CASH EARNINGS			EARNINGS IN KIND
						Basic salaries  and wages	Allow-ances, honoraria, tips, etc.	Total	Basic salaries and wages	Housing, clothing, food, etc.	Total
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)	(11)	(12)
				TOTAL

  [1] Introduction to Poverty Analysis, material used for the Distance Learning Course on Basic Poverty Measurement and Diagnostics, World Bank Institute, June 2002

 

Philippine Poverty Statistics (PPS)

Main Page

Notes: Series TN 200307-SS1-02

Main Page Issues and Limitations on Current Methodology Development of the provincial poverty methodology Feedback from Poverty Users’ Fora Annex 1 Annex 2 Annex 3 Annex 4 [ 440KB] Annex 5

	E-mail the webmaster	Terms of Use					Home • Top of Page
		1997-2008, National Statistical Coordination Board Makati City, Philippines