STP 535: Applied Sampling Methodology

Instructor:  Dr. Sharon Lohr, 965-4440, sharon.lohr@asu.edu

Time:  10:30AM - 11:45AM,  Tuesday and Thursday

Location:  PSA 111

Line #:  85341

Credits:  3

Topics:  Sample surveys are increasingly used to obtain information about populations of interest in many areas, including education, public health, sociology, ecology, agriculture, genetics, quality improvement, marketing, and accounting. This course gives you the knowledge you need to design surveys and work with data arising from sample surveys.  You will learn what distinguishes good surveys from bad surveys, and how to design good surveys and analyze data from complex surveys.  Topics include simple random sampling, stratified and cluster sampling, graphing survey data, ratio estimation, methods for dealing with nonresponse, variance estimation in complex surveys, constructing and using sampling weights, and performing regression analyses and chi-square tests on survey data.

SAS procedures SURVEYSELECT, SURVEYMEANS, and SURVEYREG will be used to aid in designing and analyzing surveys. Application areas (e.g. ecology, education, health, etc.) to be emphasized will be determined by the students in the class. As part of the course, you will analyze data from a large-scale survey such as the NCES Adult Education and Lifelong Learning Survey, the NSF Survey of Doctorate Recipients, the National Crime Victimization Survey, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or the North American Breeding Bird Survey.

STP 535 is an approved elective for the Graduate Certificate in Statistics.

Prerequisites:  STP 420 or equivalent. STP 421 is a helpful corequisite but is not required.

Text:  Lohr, S. (2008)  Sampling: Design and Analysis, 2nd ed.