Complex Surveys


Book Description

A complete guide to carrying out complex survey analysis using R As survey analysis continues to serve as a core component of sociological research, researchers are increasingly relying upon data gathered from complex surveys to carry out traditional analyses. Complex Surveys is a practical guide to the analysis of this kind of data using R, the freely available and downloadable statistical programming language. As creator of the specific survey package for R, the author provides the ultimate presentation of how to successfully use the software for analyzing data from complex surveys while also utilizing the most current data from health and social sciences studies to demonstrate the application of survey research methods in these fields. The book begins with coverage of basic tools and topics within survey analysis such as simple and stratified sampling, cluster sampling, linear regression, and categorical data regression. Subsequent chapters delve into more technical aspects of complex survey analysis, including post-stratification, two-phase sampling, missing data, and causal inference. Throughout the book, an emphasis is placed on graphics, regression modeling, and two-phase designs. In addition, the author supplies a unique discussion of epidemiological two-phase designs as well as probability-weighting for causal inference. All of the book's examples and figures are generated using R, and a related Web site provides the R code that allows readers to reproduce the presented content. Each chapter concludes with exercises that vary in level of complexity, and detailed appendices outline additional mathematical and computational descriptions to assist readers with comparing results from various software systems. Complex Surveys is an excellent book for courses on sampling and complex surveys at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also a practical reference guide for applied statisticians and practitioners in the social and health sciences who use statistics in their everyday work.




Complex Survey Data Analysis with SAS


Book Description

Complex Survey Data Analysis with SAS® is an invaluable resource for applied researchers analyzing data generated from a sample design involving any combination of stratification, clustering, unequal weights, or finite population correction factors. After clearly explaining how the presence of these features can invalidate the assumptions underlying most traditional statistical techniques, this book equips readers with the knowledge to confidently account for them during the estimation and inference process by employing the SURVEY family of SAS/STAT® procedures. The book offers comprehensive coverage of the most essential topics, including: Drawing random samples Descriptive statistics for continuous and categorical variables Fitting and interpreting linear and logistic regression models Survival analysis Domain estimation Replication variance estimation methods Weight adjustment and imputation methods for handling missing data The easy-to-follow examples are drawn from real-world survey data sets spanning multiple disciplines, all of which can be downloaded for free along with syntax files from the author’s website: http://mason.gmu.edu/~tlewis18/. While other books may touch on some of the same issues and nuances of complex survey data analysis, none features SAS exclusively and as exhaustively. Another unique aspect of this book is its abundance of handy workarounds for certain techniques not yet supported as of SAS Version 9.4, such as the ratio estimator for a total and the bootstrap for variance estimation. Taylor H. Lewis is a PhD graduate of the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an adjunct professor in the George Mason University Department of Statistics. An avid SAS user for 15 years, he is a SAS Certified Advanced programmer and a nationally recognized SAS educator who has produced dozens of papers and workshops illustrating how to efficiently and effectively conduct statistical analyses using SAS.




Practical Methods for Design and Analysis of Complex Surveys


Book Description

Large surveys are becoming increasingly available for public use, and researchers are often faced with the need to analyse complex survey data to address key scientific issues. For proper analysis it is also important to be aware of the different aspects of the design of complex surveys. Practical Methods for Design and Analysis of Complex Surveys features intermediate and advanced statistical techniques for use in designing and analysing complex surveys. This extensively updated edition features much new material, and detailed practical exercises with links to a Web site, helping instructors and enabling use for distance learning. * Provides a comprehensive introduction to sampling and estimation in descriptive surveys, including design effect statistic and use of auxiliary data. * Includes detailed coverage of complex survey analysis, including design-based ANOVA and logistic regression with GEE estimation. * Contains much new material, including handling of non-sampling errors, and model-assisted estimation for domains. * Features detailed real-li fe case studies, such as multilevel modeling in a multinational educational survey. * Supported by a Web site containing software codes, real data sets, computerized exercises with solutions, and online training materials. Practical Methods for Design and Analysis of Complex Surveys provides a useful practical resource for researchers and practitioners working in the planning, implementation or analysis of complex surveys and opinion polls, including business, educational, health, social, and socio-economic surveys and official statistics. In addition, the book is well suited for use on intermediate and advanced courses in survey sampling.




Analysis of Complex Surveys


Book Description

This study discusses appropriate principles and methods for the analysis of surveys, such as stratified multi-stage sampling, as well as the complex structure of the populations upon which these designs are based. It features essays on current research written by international experts.







Analysis of Survey Data


Book Description

This book is concerned with statistical methods for the analysis of data collected from a survey. A survey could consist of data collected from a questionnaire or from measurements, such as those taken as part of a quality control process. Concerned with the statistical methods for the analysis of sample survey data, this book will update and extend the successful book edited by Skinner, Holt and Smith on 'Analysis of Complex Surveys'. The focus will be on methodological issues, which arise when applying statistical methods to sample survey data and will discuss in detail the impact of complex sampling schemes. Further issues, such as how to deal with missing data and measurement of error will also be critically discussed. There have significant improvements in statistical software which implement complex sampling schemes (eg SUDAAN, STATA, WESVAR, PC CARP ) in the last decade and there is greater need for practical advice for those analysing survey data. To ensure a broad audience, the statistical theory will be made accessible through the use of practical examples. This book will be accessible to a broad audience of statisticians but will primarily be of interest to practitioners analysing survey data. Increased awareness by social scientists of the variety of powerful statistical methods will make this book a useful reference.




Introduction to Variance Estimation


Book Description

Now available in paperback, this book is organized in a way that emphasizes both the theory and applications of the various variance estimating techniques. Results are often presented in the form of theorems; proofs are deleted when trivial or when a reference is readily available. It applies to large, complex surveys; and to provide an easy reference for the survey researcher who is faced with the problem of estimating variances for real survey data.




Applied Survey Data Analysis


Book Description

Highly recommended by the Journal of Official Statistics, The American Statistician, and other journals, Applied Survey Data Analysis, Second Edition provides an up-to-date overview of state-of-the-art approaches to the analysis of complex sample survey data. Building on the wealth of material on practical approaches to descriptive analysis and regression modeling from the first edition, this second edition expands the topics covered and presents more step-by-step examples of modern approaches to the analysis of survey data using the newest statistical software. Designed for readers working in a wide array of disciplines who use survey data in their work, this book continues to provide a useful framework for integrating more in-depth studies of the theory and methods of survey data analysis. An example-driven guide to the applied statistical analysis and interpretation of survey data, the second edition contains many new examples and practical exercises based on recent versions of real-world survey data sets. Although the authors continue to use Stata for most examples in the text, they also continue to offer SAS, SPSS, SUDAAN, R, WesVar, IVEware, and Mplus software code for replicating the examples on the book’s updated website.




Complex Surveys


Book Description

The primary objective of this book is to study some of the research topics in the area of analysis of complex surveys which have not been covered in any book yet. It discusses the analysis of categorical data using three models: a full model, a log-linear model and a logistic regression model. It is a valuable resource for survey statisticians and practitioners in the field of sociology, biology, economics, psychology and other areas who have to use these procedures in their day-to-day work. It is also useful for courses on sampling and complex surveys at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. The importance of sample surveys today cannot be overstated. From voters’ behaviour to fields such as industry, agriculture, economics, sociology, psychology, investigators generally resort to survey sampling to obtain an assessment of the behaviour of the population they are interested in. Many large-scale sample surveys collect data using complex survey designs like multistage stratified cluster designs. The observations using these complex designs are not independently and identically distributed – an assumption on which the classical procedures of inference are based. This means that if classical tests are used for the analysis of such data, the inferences obtained will be inconsistent and often invalid. For this reason, many modified test procedures have been developed for this purpose over the last few decades.




Basic Elements of Survey Research in Education


Book Description

In this first book of the series Survey Methods in Educational Research, we have brought together leading authors and scholars in the field to discuss key introductory concepts in the creation, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of survey instruments and their resultant findings. While there are other textbooks that might introduce these concepts adequately well, the authors here have focused on the pragmatic issues that inevitably arise in the development and administration process of survey instruments. Drawing from their rich experiences, the authors present these potential speed bumps or road blocks a survey researcher in education or the social sciences might encounter. Referencing their own work and practice, the authors provide valuable suggestions for dealing with these issues “your advisor never told you about.” And all of the recommendations are aligned with standard protocols and current research on best practices in the field of research methodology. This book is broken into four broad units on creating survey items and instruments, administering surveys, analyzing the data from surveys, and stories of successful administrations modeling the entire research cycle. Each chapter focuses on a different concept in the survey research process, and the authors share their approaches to addressing the issues. These topics include survey item construction, scale development, cognitive interviewing, measuring change with self-report data, translation issues with surveys administered in multiple languages, working with school and program administrators when implementing surveys, a review of current software used in survey research, the use of weights, response styles, assessing validity of results, and effectively communicating your results and findings … and much more. The intended audience of the volume will be practitioners, administrators, teachers as researchers, graduate students, social science and education researchers not experienced in survey research, and students learning program evaluation. In brief, if you are considering doing survey research, this book is meant for you.