Survey Methodology

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Release date: December 21, 2017

The December 2017 issue of the journal Survey Methodology (Volume 43, Number 2) contains one special paper discussing the past, present and future of sample surveys followed by four short discussions of the paper, two regular papers and one short note.

Special paper

Sample survey theory and methods: Past, present, and future directions

by J.N.K. Rao and Wayne A. Fuller

We discuss developments in sample survey theory and methods covering the past 100 years. Neyman’s 1934 landmark paper laid the theoretical foundations for the probability sampling approach to inference from survey samples. Classical sampling books by Cochran, Deming, Hansen, Hurwitz and Madow, Sukhatme, and Yates, which appeared in the early 1950s, expanded and elaborated the theory of probability sampling, emphasizing unbiasedness, model free features, and designs that minimize variance for a fixed cost. During the period 1960-1970, theoretical foundations of inference from survey data received attention, with the model-dependent approach generating considerable discussion. Introduction of general purpose statistical software led to the use of such software with survey data, which led to the design of methods specifically for complex survey data. At the same time, weighting methods, such as regression estimation and calibration, became practical and design consistency replaced unbiasedness as the requirement for standard estimators. A bit later, computer-intensive resampling methods also became practical for large scale survey samples. Improved computer power led to more sophisticated imputation for missing data, use of more auxiliary data, some treatment of measurement errors in estimation, and more complex estimation procedures. A notable use of models was in the expanded use of small area estimation. Future directions in research and methods will be influenced by budgets, response rates, timeliness, improved data collection devices, and availability of auxiliary data, some of which will come from “Big Data”. Survey taking will be impacted by changing cultural behavior and by a changing physical-technical environment.

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Comments on the Rao and Fuller (2017) paper by Danny Pfeffermann

This note by Danny Pfeffermann presents a discussion of the paper “Sample survey theory and methods: Past, present, and future directions” where J.N.K. Rao and Wayne A. Fuller share their views regarding the developments in sample survey theory and methods covering the past 100 years.

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Comments on the Rao and Fuller (2017) paper by Graham Kalton

This note by Graham Kalton presents a discussion of the paper “Sample survey theory and methods: Past, present, and future directions” where J.N.K. Rao and Wayne A. Fuller share their views regarding the developments in sample survey theory and methods covering the past 100 years.

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Comments on the Rao and Fuller (2017) paper by Sharon L. Lohr

This note by Sharon L. Lohr presents a discussion of the paper “Sample survey theory and methods: Past, present, and future directions” where J.N.K. Rao and Wayne A. Fuller share their views regarding the developments in sample survey theory and methods covering the past 100 years.

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Comments on the Rao and Fuller (2017) paper by Chris Skinner

This note by Chris Skinner presents a discussion of the paper “Sample survey theory and methods: Past, present, and future directions” where J.N.K. Rao and Wayne A. Fuller share their views regarding the developments in sample survey theory and methods covering the past 100 years.

Full article  PDF version

Regular papers

Social media as a data source for official statistics; the Dutch Consumer Confidence Index

by Jan van den Brakel, Emily Söhler, Piet Daas and Bart Buelens

In this paper the question is addressed how alternative data sources, such as administrative and social media data, can be used in the production of official statistics. Since most surveys at national statistical institutes are conducted repeatedly over time, a multivariate structural time series modelling approach is proposed to model the series observed by a repeated surveys with related series obtained from such alternative data sources. Generally, this improves the precision of the direct survey estimates by using sample information observed in preceding periods and information from related auxiliary series. This model also makes it possible to utilize the higher frequency of the social media to produce more precise estimates for the sample survey in real time at the moment that statistics for the social media become available but the sample data are not yet available. The concept of cointegration is applied to address the question to which extent the alternative series represent the same phenomena as the series observed with the repeated survey. The methodology is applied to the Dutch Consumer Confidence Survey and a sentiment index derived from social media.

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Decomposition of gender wage inequalities through calibration: Application to the Swiss structure of earnings survey

by Mihaela-Catalina Anastasiade and Yves Tillé

This paper proposes a new approach to decompose the wage difference between men and women that is based on a calibration procedure. This approach generalizes two current decomposition methods that are re-expressed using survey weights. The first one is the Blinder-Oaxaca method and the second one is a reweighting method proposed by DiNardo, Fortin and Lemieux. The new approach provides a weighting system that enables us to estimate such parameters of interest like quantiles. An application to data from the Swiss Structure of Earnings Survey shows the interest of this method.

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Short note

A note on Wilson coverage intervals for proportions estimated from complex samples

by Phillip S. Kott

This note discusses the theoretical foundations for the extension of the Wilson two-sided coverage interval to an estimated proportion computed from complex survey data. The interval is shown to be asymptotically equivalent to an interval derived from a logistic transformation. A mildly better version is discussed, but users may prefer constructing a one-sided interval already in the literature.

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