Two Simple Methods to Improve Official Statistics for Small Subpopulations
Many important statistics are known from official records for the entire population, but have to be estimated for subpopulations. I describe two simple data combination methods that reduce the substantial sampling error of the commonly used direct survey estimates for small subpopulations. The first...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Survey Research Association
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Survey Research Methods |
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| Online Access: | https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/srm/article/view/7309 |
| _version_ | 1828891913149743104 |
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| author | Nikolas Mittag |
| author_facet | Nikolas Mittag |
| author_sort | Nikolas Mittag |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many important statistics are known from official records for the entire population, but have to be estimated for subpopulations. I describe two simple data combination methods that reduce the substantial sampling error of the commonly used direct survey estimates for small subpopulations. The first estimator incorporates information from repeated cross-sections, while the second estimator uses the knowledge of the statistic for the overall population to improve accuracy of the estimates for subpopulations. To evaluate the estimators, I compare the estimated number of female and elderly recipients of a government transfer program by county to the "true" number from administrative data on all recipients in New York. I find that even the simple estimators substantially improve survey error. Incorporating the statistic of interest for the overall population yields particularly large error reductions and can reduce non-sampling error. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:25:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b591f74593bc4172a58f7211ff4116ea |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1864-3361 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:25:32Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | European Survey Research Association |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Survey Research Methods |
| spelling | doaj.art-b591f74593bc4172a58f7211ff4116ea2022-12-21T23:44:18ZengEuropean Survey Research AssociationSurvey Research Methods1864-33612018-12-0112310.18148/srm/2018.v12i3.7309Two Simple Methods to Improve Official Statistics for Small SubpopulationsNikolas Mittag0CERGE-EIMany important statistics are known from official records for the entire population, but have to be estimated for subpopulations. I describe two simple data combination methods that reduce the substantial sampling error of the commonly used direct survey estimates for small subpopulations. The first estimator incorporates information from repeated cross-sections, while the second estimator uses the knowledge of the statistic for the overall population to improve accuracy of the estimates for subpopulations. To evaluate the estimators, I compare the estimated number of female and elderly recipients of a government transfer program by county to the "true" number from administrative data on all recipients in New York. I find that even the simple estimators substantially improve survey error. Incorporating the statistic of interest for the overall population yields particularly large error reductions and can reduce non-sampling error.https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/srm/article/view/7309survey errorsmall populations food stampsgovernment transfersofficial statistics |
| spellingShingle | Nikolas Mittag Two Simple Methods to Improve Official Statistics for Small Subpopulations Survey Research Methods survey error small populations food stamps government transfers official statistics |
| title | Two Simple Methods to Improve Official Statistics for Small Subpopulations |
| title_full | Two Simple Methods to Improve Official Statistics for Small Subpopulations |
| title_fullStr | Two Simple Methods to Improve Official Statistics for Small Subpopulations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Two Simple Methods to Improve Official Statistics for Small Subpopulations |
| title_short | Two Simple Methods to Improve Official Statistics for Small Subpopulations |
| title_sort | two simple methods to improve official statistics for small subpopulations |
| topic | survey error small populations food stamps government transfers official statistics |
| url | https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/srm/article/view/7309 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nikolasmittag twosimplemethodstoimproveofficialstatisticsforsmallsubpopulations |