What were the advantages of NSAF being a nongovernmental survey?
NSAF’s design did not have to go through the rigorous OMB [Office of Management and Budget] survey-review process. OMB reviews questionnaire and survey designs of all government-sponsored surveys to make sure that the sample will be representative and useful. OMB doesn’t want federal agencies to unduly burden the public. The oversight of the OMB process can be very useful. However, the process would have slowed down a survey as large and broad as NSAF, making it harder to experiment within the survey design and to make changes as needed. Some of the changes might have been delayed until they weren’t useful any more. Or, potentially, someone at OMB who didn’t understand the design might have made the wrong decision. Studies suggest that when the federal government collects data, people may respond differently. The government seal might trigger inherent bias in how they respond. NSAF was a large enough private survey to provide a good comparison. We weren’t tied to the same rules as gove
