MEPS Panel 20 Weight Development Process. The person-level weight for MEPS Panel 20 was developed using the 2015 MEPS Round 1 person-level weight as a “base” weight. For key, in-scope members who joined an RU after Round 1, the Round 1 family weight served as a “base” weight. The weighting process included an adjustment for nonresponse over the remaining data collection rounds in 2015 as well as raking to the same population control figures for December 2015 used for the MEPS Panel 19 weights for key, responding persons in-scope on December 31, 2015. The same five variables employed for Panel 19 raking (census region, MSA status, race/ethnicity, sex, and age) were used for Panel 20 raking. Again, the final weight for key, responding persons who were not in- scope on December 31, 2015 but were in-scope earlier in the year was the person weight after the nonresponse adjustment. Note that the MEPS Round 1 weights for both panels incorporated the following components: a weight reflecting the original household probability of selection for the NHIS and an adjustment for NHIS nonresponse; a factor representing the proportion of the 16 NHIS panel-quarter combinations eligible for MEPS; the oversampling of certain subgroups for MEPS among the NHIS household respondents eligible for MEPS; ratio-adjustment to NHIS-based national population estimates at the household (occupied DU) level; adjustment for nonresponse at the DU level for Round 1; and poststratification to U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population estimates at the family and person level obtained from the corresponding March CPS databases.
MEPS Panel 20 Weight Development Process. The person-level weight for MEPS Panel 20 was developed using the 2015 full year weight for an individual as a “base” weight for survey participants present in 2015. For key, in-scope members who joined an RU some time in 2016 after being out-of-scope in 2015, the initially assigned person-level weight was the corresponding 2015 family weight. The weighting process included an adjustment for person-level nonresponse over Rounds 4 and 5 as well as raking to population control totals for December 2016 for key, responding persons in-scope on December 31, 2016. These control figures were derived by scaling back the population distribution obtained from the March 2017 CPS to reflect the December 31, 2016 estimated population total (estimated based on Census projections for January 1, 2017). Variables used for person-level raking included: census region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West); MSA status (MSA, non- MSA); race/ethnicity (Hispanic; Black, non-Hispanic; Asian, non-Hispanic; and other); sex; and age. (Poverty status is not included in this version of the MEPS full year database because of the time required to process the income data collected and then assign persons to a poverty status category). The final weight for key, responding persons who were not in-scope on December 31, 2016 but were in-scope earlier in the year was the person weight after the nonresponse adjustment.
