Local polynomial regression in complex surveys - ARCHIVED

Local polynomial regression methods are put forward to aid in exploratory data analysis for large-scale surveys. The proposed regression methods are put forward to aid in exploratory data analysis for large-scale surveys. The proposed method relies on binning the data on the x-variable and calculating the appropriate survey estimates for the mean of the y-values at each bin. When binning on x has been carried out to the precision of the recorded data, the method is the same as applying the survey weights to the standard criterion for obtaining local polynomial regression estimates. The alternative of using classical polynomial regression is also considered and a criterion is proposed to decide whether the nonparametric approach to modeling should be preferred over the classical approach. Illustrative examples are given from the 1990 Ontario Health Survey.