The article compares different surveys to see how accurate they are in measuring the income of elderly people, especially from Social Security benefits. They looked at data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), as well as administrative records from the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs. The researchers found that the choice of survey can impact the accuracy of statistics on elderly economic well-being, and using administrative data can help evaluate the reliability of survey results.