The Index of Consumer Confidence survey is based on four attitudinal questions.
Data is collected on each respondent's age, sex, marital status, occupation and geographic location of residence.
Positive opinions are beliefs that a consumer's financial situation improved over the past six months or will improve over the next six months, that more jobs will be available over the near term or that it is a good time to make a major purchase.
Negative responses are defined as a worsening of a household's financial situation over the previous six months, expectations that the financial position or the number of jobs will worsen over the near term, as well as statements indicating that it is a bad time to make a major purchase.
Each Index of Consumer Confidence is then derived by adding the percentage of positive responses, subtracting the percentage of negative responses, adding a scalar equal to 400 and indexing the resulting series to a base year of 2002.