A Comparison of Volunteering Data in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Current Population Survey

This article compares the volunteering data in the Center on Philanthropy’s Philanthropy Module of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, generally referred to as Center on Philanthropy Panel Study (COPPS), and the September volunteering supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). In comparing survey methodologies, the author focuses on sample type and size, data collection procedures, response rates, and survey content. He also presents volunteering estimates from both datasets including an investigation of the uses of memory prompts and proxy responses for volunteering data. Both the COPPS and CPS volunteering data are high-quality datasets and each has relative advantages over the other. The COPPS data allow for longitudinal analysis and contain measures of charitable giving and religiosity; the CPS data’s larger sample size allows for state-level estimates and subgroup analyses. In both datasets, proxy responses generally underreport volunteering. Memory prompts in the volunteering surveys capture small amounts of additional volunteering by White, married, middle-aged women with larger households.