Sampling of Populations : Methods and Applications

Sampling of Populations, Fourth Edition continues to serve as an all-inclusive resource on the basic and most current practices in population sampling. Maintaining the clear and accessible style of the previous edition, this book outlines the essential statistical methodsfor survey design and analysis, while also exploring techniques that have developed over the past decade.

The Fourth Edition successfully guides the reader through the basic concepts and procedures that accompany real-world sample surveys, such as sampling designs, problems of missing data, statistical analysis of multistage sampling data, and nonresponse and poststratification adjustment procedures. Rather than employ a heavily mathematical approach, the authors present illustrative examples that demonstrate the rationale behind common steps in the sampling process, from creating effective surveys to analyzing collected data. Along with established methods, modern topics are treated through the book's new features, which include:

• A new chapter on telephone sampling, with coverage of declining response rates, the creation of "do not call" lists, and the growing use of cellular phones
• A new chapter on sample weighting that focuses on adjustments to weight for nonresponse, frame deficiencies, and the effects of estimator instability
• An updated discussion of sample survey data analysis that includes analytic procedures for estimation and hypothesis testing
• A new section on Chromy's widely used method of taking probability proportional to size samples with minimum replacement of primary sampling units
• An expanded index with references on the latest research in the field

All of the book's examples and exercises can be easily worked out using various software packages including SAS, STATA, and SUDAAN, and an extensive FTP site contains additional data sets. With its comprehensive presentation and wealth of relevant examples, Sampling of Populations, Fourth Edition is an ideal book for courses on survey sampling at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also a valuable reference for practicing statisticians who would like to refresh their knowledge of sampling techniques.

PAUL S. LEVY is Senior Research Statistician at RTI International and is also Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois School of Public Health. He is a Fellow of both the American Statistical Association and the American College of Epidemiology and has been widely published during his long and distinguished career as a statistician and epidemiologist. Most recently he served as section editor for design of experiments and sample surveys of the first and second editions of the Wiley Encyclopedia of Biostatistics.

STANLEY LEMESHOW, PhD, is Professor of Biostatistics in the?Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Dean of the Ohio State University School of Public Health in Columbus, Ohio. He is also a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, as well as an ardent producer of journal articles and workshops.