On some properties of variable size simple random sampling and a limit theorem

This paper introduces a sampling plan for finite populations herein called “variable size simple random sampling” and compares properties of estimators based on it with results from the usual fixed size simple random sampling without replacement. Necessary and sufficient conditions (in the spirit of Hajek (1960)) for the limiting distribution of the sample total (or sample mean) to be normal are given.     

Estimation of Population Mean in the Presence of Linear Trend

The present article deals with some methods for estimation of finite populations means in the presence of linear trend among the population values. As a result, we provided a strategy for the selection of sampling interval k for the case of circular systematic sampling, which ensures better estimator for the population mean compared to other choices of the sampling interval. This has been established based on empirical studies. Further we more, applied multiple random starts methods for selecting random samples for the case of linear systematic sampling and diagonal systematic sampling schemes. We also derived the explicit expressions for the variances and their estimates. The relative performances of simple random sampling, linear systematic sampling and diagonal systematic sampling schemes with single and multiple random starts are also assessed based on numerical examples.     

An efficient non-rejective implementation of the πps sampling designs

Poisson sampling is a method for unequal probabilities sampling with random sample size. There exist several implementations of the Poisson sampling design, with fixed sample size, which almost all are rejective methods, that is, the sample is not always accepted. Thus, the existing methods can be time-consuming or even infeasible in some situations. In this paper, a fast and non-rejective method, which is efficient even for large populations, is proposed and studied. The method is a new design for selecting a sample of fixed size with unequal inclusion probabilities. For the population of large size, the proposed design is very close to the strict πps sampling which is similar to the conditional Poisson (CP) sampling design, but the implementation of the design is much more efficient than the CP sampling. And the inclusion probabilities can be calculated recursively.     

Star-Type Systematic Sampling Schemes for Finite Populations

Two new sampling schemes namely, Star-Type Systematic (STS) sampling without replacement and Modified Star-Type Systematic (MSTS) sampling without replacement for estimation of finite population means are introduced. The relative performances of the proposed star-type systematic sample means along with those of the simple random and systematic sample means are assessed for a hypothetical population with a linear trend and also for certain natural populations. Furthermore, the usefulness of the proposed sampling schemes in quality control and for constructing partial diallel crosses in mating designs are briefly break discussed.     

Mixed ranked set sampling design

The main focus of agricultural, ecological and environmental studies is to develop well designed, cost-effective and efficient sampling designs. Ranked set sampling (RSS) is one method that leads to accomplish such objectives by incorporating expert knowledge to its advantage. In this paper, we propose an efficient sampling scheme, named mixed RSS (MxRSS), for estimation of the population mean and median. The MxRSS scheme is a suitable mixture of both simple random sampling (SRS) and RSS schemes. The MxRSS scheme provides an unbiased estimator of the population mean, and its variance is always less than the variance of sample mean based on SRS. For both symmetric and asymmetric populations, the mean and median estimators based on SRS, partial RSS (PRSS) and MxRSS schemes are compared. It turns out that the mean and median estimates under MxRSS scheme are more precise than those based on SRS scheme. Moreover, when estimating the mean of symmetric and some asymmetric populations, the mean estimates under MxRSS scheme are found to be more efficient than the mean estimates with PRSS scheme. An application to real data is also provided to illustrate the implementation of the proposed sampling scheme.     

Relative efficienctes of sampling plans for selecting a small number of units from a rectangular region

We examine the efficiency of several sampling plans for use in certain agricultural, ecological and environmental studies. One concern for such studies is that plots that arephysically close might be more similar than distant plots. We considered sampling plansthat are designed to generate samples that represent the entire population while avoidingthe selection of units that provide essentially redundant information. All plans havethe property that they avoid the simultaneous selection of units that are, in some sense,neighboring units. By means of a simulation study, the efficiency of these plans iscompared to simple random Aampling Factors that influence the relative efficiencies areexamined. This is done for a number of different populations, representing variouspossible patterns for a response variable.     

A new sampling method for estimating the population mean

A double L ranked set sampling (DLRSS) method is suggested for estimating the population mean. The DLRSS is compared with the simple random sampling (SRS), ranked set sampling (RSS) and L ranked set sampling (LRSS) methods based on the same number of measured units. The conditions for which the suggested estimator performs better than the other estimators are derived. It is found that, the suggested DLRSS estimator is an unbiased of the population mean, and is more efficient than its counterparts using SRS, RSS, and LRSS methods. Real data sets are used for illustration.     

Randomized nomination sampling for finite populations

We propose a randomized minima–maxima nomination (RMMN) sampling design for use in finite populations. We derive the first- and second-order inclusion probabilities for both with and without replacement variations of the design. The inclusion probabilities for the without replacement variation are derived using a non-homogeneous Markov process. The design is simple to implement and results in simple and easy to calculate estimators and variances. It generalizes maxima nomination sampling for use in finite populations and includes some other sampling designs as special cases. We provide some optimality results and show that, in the context of finite population sampling, maxima nomination sampling is not generally the optimum design to follow. We also show, through numerical examples and a case study, that the proposed design can result in significant improvements in efficiency compared to simple random sampling without replacement designs for a wide choice of population types. Finally, we describe a bootstrap method for choosing values of the design parameters.     

Moments and efficiency of the median and trimmed mean for finite populations

Exact formulas for the expected value and variance of the median and trimmed mean are found as functions of the elements of a finite population under simple random sampling. A simulation study is performed to compare the performance of the median and trimmed mean versus the mean when sampling from various simulated finite populations. Finally, the asymptotic performance of these estimators, when sampling from infinite populations, is compared with the finite populations results.     

Performance of distance sampling estimators: a simulation study for designs based on footpaths

ABSTRACT

Recently, distance sampling emerged as an advantageous technique to estimate the abundance of many animal populations, including ungulates. Its basic design involves the random selection of several samplers (transects or points) within the population range, and a Horvitz–Thompson-like estimator is then applied to estimate the population abundance while correcting for animal detectability. Ensuring even coverage probability is essential for subsequent inference on the population size, but it may not be achievable because of limited access to parts of the population range. Moreover, in several environmental conditions, a random selection of samplers may induce very high survey costs because it does not minimize the displacement time of the observer(s) between successive samplers. We thus tested whether two-stage designs – based on the random selection of points and then of nearby samplers – could be more cost-effective, for a given population size and when even area coverage cannot be guaranteed. Here, we further extend our analyses to assess the performance of two-stage designs under varying animal densities.     

Finite Population Variance Estimation Under LSS with Multiple Random Starts

In this article, an unbiased estimator for finite population variance is developed under linear systematic sampling with two random starts and an explicit expression for its variance is also obtained. The study is supported by two real life situations. A detailed numerical comparative study has been carried out to compare its average variance with the average variance of the conventional unbiased estimator for finite population variance under simple random sampling for a wide variety of populations. Results based on the study strongly favor the use of the developed estimator for such populations.     

Improvement in Estimating the Population Median in Simple Random Sampling and Stratified Random Sampling Using Auxiliary Information

This paper deals with estimation of population median in simple and stratified random samplings by using auxiliary information. Auxiliary information is rarely used in estimating population median, although there have been many studies to estimate population mean using auxiliary information. In this study, we suggest some estimators using auxiliary information such as mode and range of an auxiliary variable and correlation coefficient. We also expand these estimators to stratified random sampling for combined and separate estimators. We obtain mean square error equations for all proposed estimators and find theoretical conditions. These conditions are also supported by using numerical examples.     

Unbiased Estimation of P(X > Y) for Exponential Populations Using Order Statistics with Application in Ranked Set Sampling

This paper addresses the problem of unbiased estimation of P[X > Y] = θ for two independent exponentially distributed random variables X and Y. We present (unique) unbiased estimator of θ based on a single pair of order statistics obtained from two independent random samples from the two populations. We also indicate how this estimator can be utilized to obtain unbiased estimators of θ when only a few selected order statistics are available from the two random samples as well as when the samples are selected by an alternative procedure known as ranked set sampling. It is proved that for ranked set samples of size two, the proposed estimator is uniformly better than the conventional non-parametric unbiased estimator and further, a modified ranked set sampling procedure provides an unbiased estimator even better than the proposed estimator.     

Bayesian Estimation Using Warner's Randomized Response Model through Simple and Mixture Prior Distributions

The linear discriminant function (LDF) is known to be optimal in the sense of achieving an optimal error rate when sampling from multivariate normal populations with equal covariance matrices. Use of the LDF in nonnormal situations is known to lead to some strange results. This paper will focus on an evaluation of misclassification probabilities when the power transformation could have been used to achieve at least approximate normality and equal covariance matrices in the sampled populations for the distribution of the observed random variables. Attention is restricted to the two-population case with bivariate distributions.     

The gini-simpson index of diversity: estimation in the stratified sampling

In previous papers the problem of estimating the Gini-Simpson index of diversity for large populations has been considered by using random samplings with and without replacement, Nevertheless, the populations to which this estimation is usually applied (e.g., anthropoiogicai, ecological, linguistic and sociological populations) often arise naturally stratified.

In this paper we first construct unbiased estimators of the Gini-Simpson index from a sample drawn according to a stratified sampling with proportional allocation and independently in different strata. Then, we determine the standard error of such estimators. The advantages of the stratification in estimating diversity are later confirmed by means of a practical example. We finally suggest complementary studies that could be additionally developed.     

Sampling efficiency for an alternating poisson process

The efficiency of schemes for sampling an alternating Poisson process (0,1 observations) is evaluated by the inverse ratio of the variance of the proportion estimate, p, to the binomial variance. The variance ratio presented by D.R. Cox (in Renewal Theory) for fixed interval sampling is generalized to accommodate random sampling and random sampling after a time delay equal to a fixed proportion, γ , of the mean time between observations, δ. The result is a sampling design tool that provides quantifications for the effect of various spacings between observations and of fixed vs. random sampling. Direct application is made to thes field of work sampling.     

Power comparison of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test under ranked set sampling and simple random sampling

Many studies have been used to compare the power of several goodness-of-fit (GOF) tests under simple random sampling (SRS) and ranked set sampling (RSS). In our study, a different design procedure and ranking process in RSS are thoroughly investigated. A simulation study is conducted to compare the power of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test under SRS and RSS with different sets and cycle sizes for several distributions. Level-2 sampling design and partially rank-ordered sets are used. Also, we benefited from auxiliary variables in the ranking process. Finally, results are presented with tables and figures. Under these conditions we show that the RSS has better performance against the SRS in finite population.     

Multistage Sampling Designs and Estimating Equations

In some applications it is cost efficient to sample data in two or more stages. In the first stage a simple random sample is drawn and then stratified according to some easily measured attribute. In each subsequent stage a random subset of previously selected units is sampled for more detailed and costly observation, with a unit's sampling probability determined by its attributes as observed in the previous stages. This paper describes multistage sampling designs and estimating equations based on the resulting data. Maximum likelihood estimates (MLEs) and their asymptotic variances are given for designs using parametric models. Horvitz–Thompson estimates are introduced as alternatives to MLEs, their asymptotic distributions are derived and their strengths and weaknesses are evaluated. The designs and the estimates are illustrated with data on corn production.     

Simple random sample equivalent survey designs reducing undesirable units from a finite population

In this paper, we consider fixed size sampling plans for which the first order inclusion probabilities are identical for all units and the second order inclusion probabilities are constant for every pair-wise unit. The statistical conditions are identified under which these plans are equivalent to the usual simple random sampling plan. These sampling plans are constructed to reduce undesirable units.     

On the Evaluation of the Kolmogorov Statistic

At least two computer program packages, SPSS and STRATA, use simulated Bernoulli trials to draw (without replacement) a random sample of records from a finite population of records. Therefore, the size of the sample is a random variable. Two estimators of a population total under this sampling procedure are compared with the usual estimator under simple random sampling. Conditions under which the Bernoulli sampling estimators have almost the same mean squared error as the simple random-sample estimator are illustrated.