Weighting and estimation

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All (638) (60 to 70 of 638 results)

61. Comments by Marc Christine on “Jean-Claude Deville’s contributions to survey theory and official statistics”
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300200015
Description: This article discusses and provides comments on the Ardilly, Haziza, Lavallée and Tillé’s summary presentation of Jean-Claude Deville’s work on survey theory. It sheds light on the context, applications and uses of his findings, and shows how these have become engrained in the role of statisticians, in which Jean-Claude was a trailblazer. It also discusses other aspects of his career and his creative inventions.
Release date: 2024-01-03
62. Comments by Guillaume Chauvet on “Jean-Claude Deville’s contributions to survey theory and official statistics”
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300200016
Description: In this discussion, I will present some additional aspects of three major areas of survey theory developed or studied by Jean-Claude Deville: calibration, balanced sampling and the generalized weight-share method.
Release date: 2024-01-03
63. The missing information principle ‒ A paradigm for analysis of messy sample survey data
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300200018
Description: Sample surveys, as a tool for policy development and evaluation and for scientific, social and economic research, have been employed for over a century. In that time, they have primarily served as tools for collecting data for enumerative purposes. Estimation of these characteristics has been typically based on weighting and repeated sampling, or design-based, inference. However, sample data have also been used for modelling the unobservable processes that gave rise to the finite population data. This type of use has been termed analytic, and often involves integrating the sample data with data from secondary sources.
Alternative approaches to inference in these situations, drawing inspiration from mainstream statistical modelling, have been strongly promoted. The principal focus of these alternatives has been on allowing for informative sampling. Modern survey sampling, though, is more focussed on situations where the sample data are in fact part of a more complex set of data sources all carrying relevant information about the process of interest. When an efficient modelling method such as maximum likelihood is preferred, the issue becomes one of how it should be modified to account for both complex sampling designs and multiple data sources. Here application of the Missing Information Principle provides a clear way forward.
In this paper I review how this principle has been applied to resolve so-called “messy” data analysis issues in sampling. I also discuss a scenario that is a consequence of the rapid growth in auxiliary data sources for survey data analysis. This is where sampled records from one accessible source or register are linked to records from another less accessible source, with values of the response variable of interest drawn from this second source, and where a key output is small area estimates for the response variable for domains defined on the first source.
Release date: 2024-01-03
64. Mapping Production Activity in Yukon: Experimental Indexes of Grid Square-based Gross Domestic Product
Articles and reports: 11-633-X2023003
Description: This paper spans the academic work and estimation strategies used in national statistics offices. It addresses the issue of producing fine, grid-level geography estimates for Canada by exploring the measurement of subprovincial and subterritorial gross domestic product using Yukon as a test case.
Release date: 2023-12-15
65. Sampling and Weighting Technical Report, Census of Population
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 98-306-X
Description:
This report describes sampling, weighting and estimation procedures used in the Census of Population. It provides operational and theoretical justifications for them, and presents the results of the evaluations of these procedures.
Release date: 2023-10-04
66. Combining data from surveys and related sources
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300100003
Description: To improve the precision of inferences and reduce costs there is considerable interest in combining data from several sources such as sample surveys and administrative data. Appropriate methodology is required to ensure satisfactory inferences since the target populations and methods for acquiring data may be quite different. To provide improved inferences we use methodology that has a more general structure than the ones in current practice. We start with the case where the analyst has only summary statistics from each of the sources. In our primary method, uncertain pooling, it is assumed that the analyst can regard one source, survey r, as the single best choice for inference. This method starts with the data from survey r and adds data from those other sources that are shown to form clusters that include survey r. We also consider Dirichlet process mixtures, one of the most popular nonparametric Bayesian methods. We use analytical expressions and the results from numerical studies to show properties of the methodology.
Release date: 2023-06-30
67. Official Statistics based on the Dutch Health Survey during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300100004
Description: The Dutch Health Survey (DHS), conducted by Statistics Netherlands, is designed to produce reliable direct estimates at an annual frequency. Data collection is based on a combination of web interviewing and face-to-face interviewing. Due to lockdown measures during the Covid-19 pandemic there was no or less face-to-face interviewing possible, which resulted in a sudden change in measurement and selection effects in the survey outcomes. Furthermore, the production of annual data about the effect of Covid-19 on health-related themes with a delay of about one year compromises the relevance of the survey. The sample size of the DHS does not allow the production of figures for shorter reference periods. Both issues are solved by developing a bivariate structural time series model (STM) to estimate quarterly figures for eight key health indicators. This model combines two series of direct estimates, a series based on complete response and a series based on web response only and provides model-based predictions for the indicators that are corrected for the loss of face-to-face interviews during the lockdown periods. The model is also used as a form of small area estimation and borrows sample information observed in previous reference periods. In this way timely and relevant statistics describing the effects of the corona crisis on the development of Dutch health are published. In this paper the method based on the bivariate STM is compared with two alternative methods. The first one uses a univariate STM where no correction for the lack of face-to-face observation is applied to the estimates. The second one uses a univariate STM that also contains an intervention variable that models the effect of the loss of face-to-face response during the lockdown.
Release date: 2023-06-30
68. Comments by Jae Kwang Kim and HaiYing Wang on “Statistical disclosure control and developments in formal privacy: In memoriam to Chris Skinner”: A note on weight smoothing in survey sampling
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300100005
Description: Weight smoothing is a useful technique in improving the efficiency of design-based estimators at the risk of bias due to model misspecification. As an extension of the work of Kim and Skinner (2013), we propose using weight smoothing to construct the conditional likelihood for efficient analytic inference under informative sampling. The Beta prime distribution can be used to build a parameter model for weights in the sample. A score test is developed to test for model misspecification in the weight model. A pretest estimator using the score test can be developed naturally. The pretest estimator is nearly unbiased and can be more efficient than the design-based estimator when the weight model is correctly specified, or the original weights are highly variable. A limited simulation study is presented to investigate the performance of the proposed methods.
Release date: 2023-06-30
69. An extension of the weight share method when using a continuous sampling frame
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300100011
Description: The definition of statistical units is a recurring issue in the domain of sample surveys. Indeed, not all the populations surveyed have a readily available sampling frame. For some populations, the sampled units are distinct from the observation units and producing estimates on the population of interest raises complex questions, which can be addressed by using the weight share method (Deville and Lavallée, 2006). However, the two populations considered in this approach are discrete. In some fields of study, the sampled population is continuous: this is for example the case of forest inventories for which, frequently, the trees surveyed are those located on plots of which the centers are points randomly drawn in a given area. The production of statistical estimates from the sample of trees surveyed poses methodological difficulties, as do the associated variance calculations. The purpose of this paper is to generalize the weight share method to the continuous (sampled population) ? discrete (surveyed population) case, from the extension proposed by Cordy (1993) of the Horvitz-Thompson estimator for drawing points carried out in a continuous universe.
Release date: 2023-06-30
70. Multilevel time series modelling of antenatal care coverage in Bangladesh at disaggregated administrative levels
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202200200010
Description:
Multilevel time series (MTS) models are applied to estimate trends in time series of antenatal care coverage at several administrative levels in Bangladesh, based on repeated editions of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) within the period 1994-2014. MTS models are expressed in an hierarchical Bayesian framework and fitted using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations. The models account for varying time lags of three or four years between the editions of the BDHS and provide predictions for the intervening years as well. It is proposed to apply cross-sectional Fay-Herriot models to the survey years separately at district level, which is the most detailed regional level. Time series of these small domain predictions at the district level and their variance-covariance matrices are used as input series for the MTS models. Spatial correlations among districts, random intercept and slope at the district level, and different trend models at district level and higher regional levels are examined in the MTS models to borrow strength over time and space. Trend estimates at district level are obtained directly from the model outputs, while trend estimates at higher regional and national levels are obtained by aggregation of the district level predictions, resulting in a numerically consistent set of trend estimates.

Release date: 2022-12-15

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Analysis (610)

Analysis (610) (70 to 80 of 610 results)

71. Attrition in the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults, Wave 1 (2012) to Wave 4 (2018)
Articles and reports: 89-648-X2022001
Description:
This report explores the size and nature of the attrition challenges faced by the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA) survey, as well as the use of a non-response weight adjustment and calibration strategy to mitigate the effects of attrition on the LISA estimates. The study focuses on data from waves 1 (2012) to 4 (2018) and uses practical examples based on selected demographic variables, to illustrate how attrition be assessed and treated.

Release date: 2022-11-14
72. Study: Attrition in the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults, Wave 1 (2012) to Wave 4 (2018) Archived
Stats in brief: 11-001-X202231822683
Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin
Release date: 2022-11-14
73. Bayesian inference for a variance component model using pairwise composite likelihood with survey data
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202200100002
Description: We consider an intercept only linear random effects model for analysis of data from a two stage cluster sampling design. At the first stage a simple random sample of clusters is drawn, and at the second stage a simple random sample of elementary units is taken within each selected cluster. The response variable is assumed to consist of a cluster-level random effect plus an independent error term with known variance. The objects of inference are the mean of the outcome variable and the random effect variance. With a more complex two stage sampling design, the use of an approach based on an estimated pairwise composite likelihood function has appealing properties. Our purpose is to use our simpler context to compare the results of likelihood inference with inference based on a pairwise composite likelihood function that is treated as an approximate likelihood, in particular treated as the likelihood component in Bayesian inference. In order to provide credible intervals having frequentist coverage close to nominal values, the pairwise composite likelihood function and corresponding posterior density need modification, such as a curvature adjustment. Through simulation studies, we investigate the performance of an adjustment proposed in the literature, and find that it works well for the mean but provides credible intervals for the random effect variance that suffer from under-coverage. We propose possible future directions including extensions to the case of a complex design.
Release date: 2022-06-21
74. Relative performance of methods based on model-assisted survey regression estimation: A simulation study
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202200100003
Description:
Use of auxiliary data to improve the efficiency of estimators of totals and means through model-assisted survey regression estimation has received considerable attention in recent years. Generalized regression (GREG) estimators, based on a working linear regression model, are currently used in establishment surveys at Statistics Canada and several other statistical agencies. GREG estimators use common survey weights for all study variables and calibrate to known population totals of auxiliary variables. Increasingly, many auxiliary variables are available, some of which may be extraneous. This leads to unstable GREG weights when all the available auxiliary variables, including interactions among categorical variables, are used in the working linear regression model. On the other hand, new machine learning methods, such as regression trees and lasso, automatically select significant auxiliary variables and lead to stable nonnegative weights and possible efficiency gains over GREG. In this paper, a simulation study, based on a real business survey sample data set treated as the target population, is conducted to study the relative performance of GREG, regression trees and lasso in terms of efficiency of the estimators and properties of associated regression weights. Both probability sampling and non-probability sampling scenarios are studied.

Release date: 2022-06-21
75. Bayesian inference for multinomial data from small areas incorporating uncertainty about order restriction
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202200100004
Description:
When the sample size of an area is small, borrowing information from neighbors is a small area estimation technique to provide more reliable estimates. One of the famous models in small area estimation is a multinomial-Dirichlet hierarchical model for multinomial counts. Due to natural characteristics of the data, making unimodal order restriction assumption to parameter spaces is relevant. In our application, body mass index is more likely at an overweight level, which means the unimodal order restriction may be reasonable. The same unimodal order restriction for all areas may be too strong to be true for some cases. To increase flexibility, we add uncertainty to the unimodal order restriction. Each area will have similar unimodal patterns, but not the same. Since the order restriction with uncertainty increases the inference difficulty, we make comparison with the posterior summaries and approximated log-pseudo marginal likelihood.

Release date: 2022-06-21
76. A generalization of inverse probability weighting
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202200100009
Description:
In finite population estimation, the inverse probability or Horvitz-Thompson estimator is a basic tool. Even when auxiliary information is available to model the variable of interest, it is still used to estimate the model error. Here, the inverse probability estimator is generalized by introducing a positive definite matrix. The usual inverse probability estimator is a special case of the generalized estimator, where the positive definite matrix is the identity matrix. Since calibration estimation seeks weights that are close to the inverse probability weights, it too can be generalized by seeking weights that are close to those of the generalized inverse probability estimator. Calibration is known to be optimal, in the sense that it asymptotically attains the Godambe-Joshi lower bound. That lower bound has been derived under a model where no correlation is present. This too, can be generalized to allow for correlation. With the correct choice of the positive definite matrix that generalizes the calibration estimators, this generalized lower bound can be asymptotically attained. There is often no closed-form formula for the generalized estimators. However, simple explicit examples are given here to illustrate how the generalized estimators take advantage of the correlation. This simplicity is achieved here, by assuming a correlation of one between some population units. Those simple estimators can still be useful, even if the correlation is smaller than one. Simulation results are used to compare the generalized estimators to the ordinary estimators.

Release date: 2022-06-21
77. Canadian Income Survey: Population rebasing, 2012 to 2019
Articles and reports: 75F0002M2022001
Description:
Periodically, income statistics are updated to reflect the most recent population estimates derived after the census. Accordingly, with the release of the 2020 data from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS), Statistics Canada has revised estimates for 2012 to 2019 using totals from population estimates based on the 2016 Census. This paper presents a comparison between revised and unrevised estimates for key income series, and describes other modifications made to CIS variables.

Release date: 2022-03-23
78. Two local diagnostics to evaluate the efficiency of the empirical best predictor under the Fay-Herriot model
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202100200001
Description:
The Fay-Herriot model is often used to produce small area estimates. These estimates are generally more efficient than standard direct estimates. In order to evaluate the efficiency gains obtained by small area estimation methods, model mean square error estimates are usually produced. However, these estimates do not reflect all the peculiarities of a given domain (or area) because model mean square errors integrate out the local effects. An alternative is to estimate the design mean square error of small area estimators, which is often more attractive from a user point of view. However, it is known that design mean square error estimates can be very unstable, especially for domains with few sampled units. In this paper, we propose two local diagnostics that aim to choose between the empirical best predictor and the direct estimator for a particular domain. We first find an interval for the local effect such that the best predictor is more efficient under the design than the direct estimator. Then, we consider two different approaches to assess whether it is plausible that the local effect falls in this interval. We evaluate our diagnostics using a simulation study. Our preliminary results indicate that our diagnostics are effective for choosing between the empirical best predictor and the direct estimator.
Release date: 2022-01-06
79. With-replacement bootstrap variance estimation for household surveys Principles, examples and implementation
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202100200005
Description:
Variance estimation is a challenging problem in surveys because there are several nontrivial factors contributing to the total survey error, including sampling and unit non-response. Initially devised to capture the variance of non-trivial statistics based on independent and identically distributed data, the bootstrap method has since been adapted in various ways to address survey-specific elements/factors. In this paper we look into one of those variants, the with-replacement bootstrap. We consider household surveys, with or without sub-sampling of individuals. We make explicit the benchmark variance estimators that the with-replacement bootstrap aims at reproducing. We explain how the bootstrap can be used to account for the impact sampling, treatment of non-response and calibration have on total survey error. For clarity, the proposed methods are illustrated on a running example. They are evaluated through a simulation study, and applied to a French Panel for Urban Policy. Two SAS macros to perform the bootstrap methods are also developed.
Release date: 2022-01-06
80. Replication variance estimation after sample-based calibration
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202100200006
Description:
Sample-based calibration occurs when the weights of a survey are calibrated to control totals that are random, instead of representing fixed population-level totals. Control totals may be estimated from different phases of the same survey or from another survey. Under sample-based calibration, valid variance estimation requires that the error contribution due to estimating the control totals be accounted for. We propose a new variance estimation method that directly uses the replicate weights from two surveys, one survey being used to provide control totals for calibration of the other survey weights. No restrictions are set on the nature of the two replication methods and no variance-covariance estimates need to be computed, making the proposed method straightforward to implement in practice. A general description of the method for surveys with two arbitrary replication methods with different numbers of replicates is provided. It is shown that the resulting variance estimator is consistent for the asymptotic variance of the calibrated estimator, when calibration is done using regression estimation or raking. The method is illustrated in a real-world application, in which the demographic composition of two surveys needs to be harmonized to improve the comparability of the survey estimates.
Release date: 2022-01-06

Reference (28)

Reference (28) (0 to 10 of 28 results)

1. A Framework for Projecting Housing Use Associated with Immigrants and Non-Permanent Residents
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-633-X2026002
Description: Recent changes in Canada’s immigration levels have heightened interest in understanding how immigration affects housing demand. This article develops a methodological framework for projecting housing use associated with permanent residents (PRs) and non-permanent residents (NPRs) under alternative immigration scenarios. The framework applies observed per capita housing use rates from the Census of Population to estimate incremental housing use by tenure over time.
Release date: 2026-04-24
2. Technical Guide on Demographic Estimates at Statistics Canada
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 91-528-X
Description: The Technical Guide on Demographic Estimates at Statistics Canada provides detailed descriptions of the most current data sources and methods used by the Centre for demography at Statistics Canada to produce demographic estimates as part of the Demographic estimates program. They comprise postcensal and intercensal population estimates; base population; births and deaths; immigrants; emigrants; returning emigrants; non-permanent residents; interprovincial migration; subprovincial estimates of population and intraprovincial migration; population estimates by age and gender; and census family estimates. A glossary of commonly used terms is available at the end of the guide.
Release date: 2025-12-17
3. Sampling and Weighting Technical Report, Census of Population
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 98-306-X
Description:
This report describes sampling, weighting and estimation procedures used in the Census of Population. It provides operational and theoretical justifications for them, and presents the results of the evaluations of these procedures.
Release date: 2023-10-04
4. Effective Income Tax and Transfer Rates: Technical Reference Note
Notices and consultations: 75F0002M2019006
Description:
In 2018, Statistics Canada released two new data tables with estimates of effective tax and transfer rates for individual tax filers and census families. These estimates are derived from the Longitudinal Administrative Databank. This publication provides a detailed description of the methods used to derive the estimates of effective tax and transfer rates.
Release date: 2019-04-16
5. Revisions to 2006 to 2011 income data Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 75F0002M2015003
Description:
This note discusses revised income estimates from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). These revisions to the SLID estimates make it possible to compare results from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS) to earlier years. The revisions address the issue of methodology differences between SLID and CIS.
Release date: 2015-12-17
6. Methodology for measuring the underground economy by province and territory Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 13-605-X201500414166
Description:
Estimates of the underground economy by province and territory for the period 2007 to 2012 are now available for the first time. The objective of this technical note is to explain how the methodology employed to derive upper-bound estimates of the underground economy for the provinces and territories differs from that used to derive national estimates.
Release date: 2015-04-29
7. Sampling and Weighting Technical Report, National Household Survey, 2011 Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 99-002-X2011001
Description:
This report describes sampling and weighting procedures used in the 2011 National Household Survey. It provides operational and theoretical justifications for them, and presents the results of the evaluation studies of these procedures.
Release date: 2015-01-28
8. Sampling and Weighting Technical Report, National Household Survey
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 99-002-X
Description: This report describes sampling and weighting procedures used in the 2011 National Household Survey. It provides operational and theoretical justifications for them, and presents the results of the evaluation studies of these procedures.
Release date: 2015-01-28
9. 2006 Census Technical Report: Sampling and Weighting
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 92-568-X
Description:
This report describes sampling and weighting procedures used in the 2006 Census. It reviews the history of these procedures in Canadian censuses, provides operational and theoretical justifications for them, and presents the results of the evaluation studies of these procedures.
Release date: 2009-08-11
10. Improvements in 2006 to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 71F0031X2006003
Description:
This paper introduces and explains modifications made to the Labour Force Survey estimates in January 2006. Some of these modifications include changes to the population estimates, improvements to the public and private sector estimates and historical updates to several small Census Agglomerations (CA).
Release date: 2006-01-25

Date modified:: 2026-09-12