Multiple imputation: an application to income nonresponse in the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment

Multiple imputation is used to create values for missing family income data in the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment. We present an overview of the survey and a description of the missingness pattern for family income and other key variables. We create a logistic model for the multiple imputation process and to impute data sets for family income. We compare results between estimates of the income distribution based on no imputation, single imputation, and multiple imputation. Although the imputation methodology has been applied to the income variable, it is transferable as a general approach to dealing with item nonresponse for other variables in this and other survey studies.