Are probability surveys bound to disappear for the production of official statistics?

Articles and reports: 12-001-X202000100001

Description:

For several decades, national statistical agencies around the world have been using probability surveys as their preferred tool to meet information needs about a population of interest. In the last few years, there has been a wind of change and other data sources are being increasingly explored. Five key factors are behind this trend: the decline in response rates in probability surveys, the high cost of data collection, the increased burden on respondents, the desire for access to “real-time” statistics, and the proliferation of non-probability data sources. Some people have even come to believe that probability surveys could gradually disappear. In this article, we review some approaches that can reduce, or even eliminate, the use of probability surveys, all the while preserving a valid statistical inference framework. All the approaches we consider use data from a non-probability source; data from a probability survey are also used in most cases. Some of these approaches rely on the validity of model assumptions, which contrasts with approaches based on the probability sampling design. These design-based approaches are generally not as efficient; yet, they are not subject to the risk of bias due to model misspecification.

Issue Number: 2020001
Author(s): Beaumont, Jean-François

Main Product: Survey Methodology

FormatRelease dateMore information
HTMLJune 30, 2020
PDFJune 30, 2020

Related information

Subjects and keywords

Subjects

Date modified: