Methods of sample adjustment. Improving the quality of survey results

Abstract

Statistical surveys, however well designed, often find that the resulting sample structure does not always reproduce the population structure accurately.In order to get more accurate estimators for the variables of interest, several methods of sample adjustment can be used. Most common among them are: post-stratification, ratio estimation and regression, which are presented in the article. Whether applied before data collection or afterwards, sample adjustment methods provide better estimations of the parameters of interest.

Keywords

• sample balancing
• weighting
• post-stratification estimator
• regression estimator
• ratio estimator