A variation of the housing unit method for estimating the population of small, rural areas: A case study of the local expert procedure

This paper examines the suitability of a survey-based procedure for estimating populations in small, rural areas. The procedure is a variation of the Housing Unit Method. It employs the use of local experts enlisted to provide information about the demographic characteristics of households randomly selected from residential unit sample frames developed from utility records. The procedure is nonintrusive and less costly than traditional survey data collection efforts. Because the procedure is based on random sampling, confidence intervals can be constructed around the population estimated by the technique. The results of a case study are provided in which the total population is estimated for three unincorporated communities in rural, southern Nevada.