AS/SC/AK/ MATH 3430 3.0 W

Sample Survey Design

      Principal steps in planning and conducting a sample survey. Sampling techniques including simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, cluster sampling, and sampling with probabilities proportional to size. Estimation techniques including difference, ratio, and regression estimation.
      This course deals with the peculiarities of sampling and inference commonly encountered in sample surveys in medicine, business, the social sciences, political science, natural resource management, and market research. Attention will be focused on the economics of purchasing a specific quantity of information.
      That is, methods for designing surveys that capitalize on characteristics of the population under study will be presented, along with associated estimators to reduce the cost of acquiring an estimate of specified accuracy. (The emphasis will be on the practical applications of theoretical results.)
      The text will be R. L. Scheaffer, W. Mendenhall, and L. Ott, Elementary Survey Sampling (5th ed.), PWS-Kent.
      The final grade may be based on assignments (5%), class tests (40%) and a final examination (55%).