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Distribution and Comparison of the Refusal Rate

1. Distribution of the refusal rate

The CHFS calculates the refusal rates in two ways. The first one adopts a more inclusive way

to calculate refusal cases, which include households that refuse to cooperate, unoccupied

residences and unqualified households. The formula for this refusal rate I is:

Refusal rate I = (non-cooperative households + unoccupied residences + unqualified

households) / (non-cooperative households + unoccupied residences + unqualified households +

households interviewed)

Another way to calculate refusal rate considers only non-cooperative households using the

following formula:

Refusal rate II = non-cooperative households / (non-cooperative households + households

interviewed).

Table 1 shows the refusal rates of overall, urban and rural sample based on above two

measures. Neither of the overall refusal rates based on the two measurements is above 20% thanks

to the assistance from the Peoples Bank of China and the local communities and to our

hardworking and diligent interviewers. We find significant difference in refusal rates between the

urban and the rural sample. For example, the refusal rate II in the urban sample, which is 16.5%, is

as five times high as that of the rural sample, 3.2%, indicating rural residents are more willing to

cooperate with our interviewers.

Table 2 compares the refusal rates across geographic regions. It shows that the refusal rate

gets higher when one moves from the west to the east. Given the unequal development of regions

in China, this finding suggests that the willingness of people cooperating in the survey is

negatively associated with the level of economic development of the region. Since a large

proportion of communities selected from the Eastern region are urban communities, the Eastern

region has the highest refusal rate. For instance, the refusal rate II for the East region is 15.5%; in

comparison, it is 9.7% for the Central region and 4.4% for the West region. Because the sample

distribution ratio for the Eastern, Central, and Western region is 32: 27: 21 respectively and the

urban population is oversampled, the refusal rates of the Western and Central region are much

lower than the national overall. The CHFS put a lot of time and efforts in the communities where

residents are less willing to cooperate with our interviewers at the beginning.

Table 1 The Refusal Rate Distribution of CHFS in Urban and Rural Regions

Total Urban Rural

Refusal rate 1 18.4% 22.6% 8.4%

Refusal rate 2 11.6% 16.5% 3.2%

Table 2 The Regional Distribution of CHFS Refusal Rate

Total East Central West

Refusal rate 1 18.4% 20.7% 16.1% 14.4%

Refusal rate 2 11.6% 15.5% 9.7% 4.4%

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Table 3 further shows the distribution of refusal rates of the 320 selected residential

communities. Using the refusal rate II, we achieved zero refusal rate in 191 communities. In other

words, all chosen households in the 191 communities cooperated in the survey. 53 of the 191

communities are urban residential communities whereas the rest 138 are rural villages. For

majority communities, the refusal rate ranges between 0% and 20%. Only 7 of the urban

communities have a refusal rate above 40%. As majority of the rural villages have zero refusal rate,

there are only 21 rural villages where the refusal rate is above zero. Moreover, the distribution of

refusal rate is quite similar between the Eastern region and the Central region; there is none

community with a refusal rate above 40% in the Western region.

Table 3 The Refusal Rate Distribution of CHFS Communities

Refusal rule RegionThe Number of Communities

0% 0%-20% 20%-40% Above40%

Refusal rate 1

Total 88 137 79 16

Urban 16 68 63 14

Rural 72 69 16 2

East 23 60 38 7

Central 37 41 23 7

West 18 36 18 2

Refusal rate 2

Total 191 89 30 10

Urban 53 75 26 7

Rural 138 14 4 3

East 69 39 13 7

Central 61 33 11 3

West 61 17 6 0

2. Comparison of refusal rate with other surveys

It is worth comparing the refusal rate of the CHFS with that of other major surveys. In China,

there are several well-known national surveys, including the China Health and Nutrition Survey

(CHNS), the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP), the Chinese General Social Survey

(CGSS), and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS). Among abovesurveys, only CHARLS reported the refusal rate II of its pilot study in 2008. Table 1-8 compares

the refusal rate of CHARLS with ours. It shows that the CHFSs overall refusal rate is 3.6% lower

than that of CHARLS, 4.2% lower in the urban sample, and 6.9% lower in the rural sample. It

may not appropriate to make the direct comparison given that 2008 CHARLS only covers two

provinces (Gansu and Zhejiang), while CHFS covers 25 provinces.

Considering that the CHFS sample covers many urban communities in the Eastern China and

touches upon many sensitive issues such as income, saving, and wealth allocation, the refusal rate

of the CHFS is lower than many would expect. This outcome cannot be achieved without the

detailed preparation and meticulous organizational efforts, and most of all, our first-rate and

dedicated interviewers and fieldwork managers.

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Table 4 The Refusal Rate of CHFS comparing with Other Domestic Surveys

Survey Year Refusal Rate Remarks

CHFS 2011

Sample11.6%

Refusal rate 2Urban16.5%

Rural3.2%

CHARLS (Pilot) 2008

Sample15.2%

Refusal rate 2Urban20.7%

Rural10.1%

It is also worthwhile to put the refusal rate of the CHFS in an international perspective. Table

5 presents the refusal rates of four well-respected survey project, including the Panel Study of

Income Dynamic (PSID, USA), the Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF, USA), the Consumer

Expenditure Survey (CES, USA), and the Survey of Household Income and Wealth (the SHIW,

Italy). As the benchmark for all longitudinal survey projects, the PSID has achieved an

outstanding record in refusal rate, ranging between 2% and 6% in recent waves. The other three

surveys in general and the SCF in particular are more comparable to CHFS given their common

interests in household assets, income and expenditure. As shown in Table 5 the refusal rates of

SCF, CEX and SHIW are all above 25% and that of SCF is above 30%. This international

comparison further shows the high quality of the CHFS data with regard to the refusal rate.

Table 5 The Refusal Rate of CHFS Comparing with Other Foreign Surveys

Survey Year Refusal Rate Remarks

PSID 2010 Between 2% and 6%Panel Study of Income

DynamicAmerican

SCF 2007

AP Sample List Sample Survey of Consumer

Finance

American32.2% 67.3%

CEX 2005Interview Diary Consumer Expenditure

SurveyAmerican25.5% 29%

SHIW 2008 43.9%

Survey Household Income

and WealthItaly)