An improved cluster two-stage randomized response model

In this paper, Abdelfatah and Mazloum's (2015) two-stage randomized response model is extended to unequal probability sampling and stratified unequal probability sampling, both with and without replacement. The extended models result in more efficient estimators than Lee et al.'s (2014) estimators of the proportion of the population having a sensitive attribute.     

Data-driven stochastic inversion via functional quantization

In this paper, we propose a new methodology for solving stochastic inversion problems through computer experiments, the stochasticity being driven by a functional random variables. This study is motivated by an automotive application. In this context, the simulator code takes a double set of simulation inputs: deterministic control variables and functional uncertain variables. This framework is characterized by two features. The first one is the high computational cost of simulations. The second is that the probability distribution of the functional input is only known through a finite set of realizations. In our context, the inversion problem is formulated by considering the expectation over the functional random variable. We aim at solving this problem by evaluating the model on a design, whose adaptive construction combines the so-called stepwise uncertainty reduction methodology with a strategy for an efficient expectation estimation. Two greedy strategies are introduced to sequentially estimate the expectation over the functional uncertain variable by adaptively selecting curves from the initial set of realizations. Both of these strategies consider functional principal component analysis as a dimensionality reduction technique assuming that the realizations of the functional input are independent realizations of the same continuous stochastic process. The first strategy is based on a greedy approach for functional data-driven quantization, while the second one is linked to the notion of space-filling design. Functional PCA is used as an intermediate step. For each point of the design built in the reduced space, we select the corresponding curve from the sample of available curves, thus guaranteeing the robustness of the procedure to dimension reduction. The whole methodology is illustrated and calibrated on an analytical example. It is then applied on the automotive industrial test case where we aim at identifying the set of control parameters leading to meet the pollutant emission standards of a vehicle.     

An efficient two-stage randomized response model under stratified random sampling

A two-stage randomized response model is extended to stratified random sampling in order to find out more efficient estimators of proportions built from sensitive questions, which respondents may not answer truthfully, in a population divided into homogeneous subgroups. In each subgroup, the respondents who have not answered the sensitive question in the first stage are requested in the second stage to either answer the sensitive question (second attempt then) or to draw a card indicating “yes” or “no”. In the latter case, they are required to report the outcome. Such extension provides a more efficient estimator of the proportion of the population having a given sensitive attribute than its counterpart in simple random sampling. The extended two-stage randomized response model is more efficient than the stratified randomized response model, where respondents must answer the sensitive question either in the first or in the second stage. Moreover, it increases the respondents’ cooperation. When strata weights are unknown, they are estimated by the double sampling method.