Preferred Reporting Items for Complex Sample Survey Analysis (PRICSSA)

Abstract

Methodological issues pertaining to transparency and analytic error have been widely documented for publications featuring analysis of complex sample survey data. The availability of numerous public use datasets to researchers without adequate training in using these data likely contributes to these problems. In an effort to introduce standards for reporting analyses of survey data and promote replication, we propose the Preferred Reporting Items for Complex Sample Survey Analysis (PRICSSA), an itemized checklist to guide researchers publishing analyses using complex sample survey data. PRICSSA is modeled after other checklists (e.g., PRISMA, CONSORT) that have been widely adopted for other research designs. The PRICSSA items include a variety of survey characteristics, such as data collection dates, mode(s), response rate, and sample selection process. In addition, essential analytic information—such as sample sizes for all estimates, missing data rates and imputation methods (if applicable), disclosing if any data were deleted, specifying what survey weight and sample design variables were used along with method of variance estimation, and reporting design-adjusted standard errors/confidence intervals for all estimates—are also included. PRICSSA also recommends that authors make all corresponding software code available. Widespread adoption of PRICSSA will help improve the quality of secondary analyses of complex sample survey data through transparency and promote scientific rigor and reproducibility.