Variance Estimation for Survey-Weighted Data Using Bootstrap Resampling Methods: 2013 Methods-of-Payment Survey Questionnaire

Sampling units for the 2013 Methods-of-Payment Survey were selected through an approximate stratified random sampling design. To compensate for non-response and non-coverage, the observations are weighted through a raking procedure. The variance estimation of weighted estimates must take into account both the sampling design and the raking procedure. We propose using bootstrap resampling methods to estimate the variance. We find that the variance is smaller when estimated through the bootstrap resampling method than through Stata’s linearization method, where the latter does not take into account the correlation between the variables used for weighting and the outcome variable of interest.