Chapter 1

Introduction

Statistics is the science of data.

Data are the numerical values containing some information.

Statistical tools can be used on a data set to draw statistical inferences. These statistical inferences are
in turn used for various purposes. For example, the government uses such data for policy formulation
for the welfare of the people, and marketing companies use the data from consumer surveys to improve
the company and provide better services to the customer. Such data is obtained through sample surveys.
Sample surveys are conducted throughout the world by governmental and non-governmental agencies.
For example, “National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO)” conducts surveys in India, “Statistics
Canada” conducts surveys in Canada, and agencies of the United Nations like “The World Health
Organization (WHO), “Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)” etc. conduct surveys in different
countries.

Sampling theory provides the tools and techniques for data collection, keeping in mind the objectives to
be fulfilled and the nature of the population.

There are two ways of obtaining the information

1. Sample surveys
2. Complete enumeration or census

Sample surveys collect information on a fraction of the total population, whereas census collects
information on the whole population. Some surveys, e.g., economic surveys, agricultural surveys, etc.,
are conducted regularly. Some surveys are need-based and are conducted when some need arises, e.g.,
consumer satisfaction surveys at a newly opened shopping mall to see the satisfaction level with the
amenities provided in the shopping mall.

Sampling unit:
An element or a group of elements on which the observations can be taken is called a sampling unit.
The objective of the survey is to determine the definition of the sampling unit.

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For example, if the objective is to determine the total income of all the persons in the household, then
the sampling unit is a household. If the aim is to determine the income of any particular person in the
household, then the sampling unit is the income of the particular person in the household. So, the
definition of a sampling unit depends on the objective of the survey. Similarly, in another example, if
the objective is to study the blood sugar level, then the sampling unit is the value of the blood sugar
level of a person. On the other hand, if the objective is to study the health conditions, then the sampling
unit is the person on whom the readings on the blood sugar level, blood pressure, and other factors will
be obtained. These values will together classify the person as healthy or unhealthy.

Population:
The population is the collection of all the sampling units in a given region at a particular point in time
or a particular period. For example, suppose the medical facilities in a hospital are to be surveyed
through the patients. In that case, the total number of patients registered in the hospital during the
survey period will be the population. Similarly, if wheat production in a district is to be studied, then all
the fields cultivating wheat in that district will constitute the population. The total number of sampling
units in the population is the population size, generally denoted by N. The population size can be finite
or infinite (N is large).

Census:
The complete count of the population is called a census. The observations on all the sampling units in
the population are collected in the census. For example, in India, the census is conducted every tenth
year, and observations of all the persons staying in India are collected.

Sample:
One or more sampling units are selected from the population according to some specified procedure.
A sample consists only of a portion of the population units. Such a collection of units is called the
sample.

In the context of sample surveys, a collection of units like households, people, cities, countries, etc., is
called a finite population.

A census is a 100% sample. It is a complete count of the population.

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Representative sample:
When all the salient features of the population are present in the sample, then it is called a
representative sample.

Every sample is considered as a representative sample.

For example, if a population has 30% males and 70% females, we expect the sample to have nearly
30% males and 70% females.

Another example is if we remove a handful of wheat from 100 Kg. bag of wheat, we expect the same
quality of wheat in hand as inside the bag. Similarly, a drop of blood is expected to give the same
information as all the blood in the body.

Sampling frame:
The sampling frame comprises the list of all the units of the population to be surveyed. All the sampling
units in the sampling frame have identification particulars. For example, all the students in a particular
university listed and their roll numbers constitute the sampling frame. Similarly, the list of households
with the name of the head of the family or house address constitutes the sampling frame. In another
example, the residents of a city area may be listed in more than one frame - as per automobile
registration and the listing in the telephone directory.

Ways to ensure representativeness:

There are two possible ways to ensure that the selected sample is representative.

1. Random sample or probability sample:

The laws of chance or probability govern the selection of units in the sample from a population.
The probability of selection of a unit can be equal or unequal.

2. Non-random sample or purposive sample:

The probability laws do not govern the selection of units in the sample from the population.

For example, the units are selected based on the surveyor's personal judgment. The persons
volunteering to take some medical test or drink a new coffee type also constitute the sample based on
non-random laws.

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Another type of sampling is Quota Sampling. In this case, the survey is continued until a predetermined
number of units with the characteristic under study are picked up.

For example, in order to conduct an experiment for a rare type of disease, the survey is continued till
the required number of patients with the disease is collected.

Advantages of sampling over complete enumeration:

1. Reduced cost and enlarged scope.
Sampling involves collecting data on a smaller number of units compared to the complete
enumeration, so the cost involved in collecting information is reduced. Further, additional
information can be obtained at a lower cost than conducting another separate survey. For
example, when an interviewer collects information on health conditions, she/he can also ask
some questions on health practices. This will provide additional information on health practices,
and the cost involved will be much less than conducting an entirely new survey on health
practices.

2. Organizaton of work:
It is easier to manage the organization of a collection of a smaller number of units than all the
units in a census. For example, to draw a representative sample from a state, it is easier to
manage to draw small samples from every city than drawing the sample from the whole state at
a time. This ultimately results in more accuracy in the statistical inferences because the better
organization provides better data, and in turn, improved statistical inferences are obtained.

3. Greater accuracy:
The persons involved in the collection of data are trained personnel. They can collect the data
more accurately if they have to collect a smaller number of units than a large number of units.

4. Urgent information required:

The data from a sample can be quickly summarized.
For example, crop production forecasting can be done quickly based on a sample of data rather
than collecting all the observations first.

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 5. Feasibility:
Conducting the experiment on a smaller number of units, particularly when the units are
destroyed, is more feasible. For example, it is more feasible to fuse a minimum number of bulbs
to determine the life of bulbs. Similarly, in any medical experiment, it is more viable to use less
number of animals.

Type of surveys:
There are various types of surveys that are conducted based on the objectives to be fulfilled.

1. Demographic surveys:
These surveys are conducted to collect demographic data, e.g., household surveys, family size, number
of males in families, etc. Such surveys are helpful in the policy formulation for any city, state, or
country for the welfare of the people.

2. Educational surveys:
These surveys are conducted to collect educational data, e.g., how many children go to school, how
many persons are graduates, etc. Such surveys are conducted to examine educational programs in
schools and colleges. Generally, schools are selected first, and then the students from each school
constitute the sample.

3. Economic surveys:
These surveys are conducted to collect economic data, e.g., data related to the export and import of
goods, industrial production, consumer expenditure, etc. Such data is helpful in constructing the indices
indicating the growth in a particular sector of the economy or even the overall economic growth of the
country.

4. Employment surveys:
These surveys are conducted to collect employment-related data, e.g., employment rate, labour
conditions, wages, etc., in a city, state, or country. Such data helps in constructing various indices to
know the employment conditions among the people.

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5. Health and nutrition surveys:
These surveys are conducted to collect data related to health and nutrition issues, e.g., the number of
visits to doctors, food given to children, nutritional value, etc. Such surveys are conducted in cities,
states as well as countries by national and international organizations like UNICEF, WHO, etc.

6. Agricultural surveys:
These surveys are conducted to collect agriculture-related data to estimate, e.g., the acreage and
production of crops, livestock numbers, use of fertilizers, use of pesticides, and other related topics.
Based on such surveys, the government bases its planning on food issues for the people.

7. Marketing surveys:
These surveys are conducted to collect data related to marketing. They are conducted by major
companies, manufacturers, or those who provide services to consumers, etc. Such data is used to know
consumers' satisfaction and opinions and develop sales, purchase, and promotional activities, etc.

8. Election surveys:
These surveys are conducted to study the outcome of an election or a poll. For example, such polls are
conducted in democratic countries to have people's opinions about any candidate contesting the
election.

9. Public polls and surveys:

These surveys are conducted to collect public opinion on any particular issue. Such surveys are
generally conducted by the news media and the agencies that conduct polls and surveys on current
topics of interest to the public.

10. Campus surveys:

These surveys are conducted on the students of any educational institution to study educational
programs, living facilities, dining facilities, sports activities, etc.

Principal steps in a sample survey:

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The broad steps to conduct any sample surveys are as follows:

1. Objective of the survey:

The objective of the survey has to be clearly defined and well understood by the person planning to
conduct it. The statistician is expected to be well-versed in the issues to be addressed in consultation
with the person who wants to conduct the survey. In complex surveys, the objective is sometimes
forgotten, and data is collected on issues far from the objectives.

2. Population to be sampled:
Based on the survey's objectives, decide the population from which the information can be obtained.
For example, the population of farmers is to be sampled for an agricultural survey. In contrast, the
patient population must be sampled to determine the medical facilities in a hospital.

3. Data to be collected:
It is important to decide which data is relevant for fulfilling the survey's objectives without omitting any
essential data. Sometimes, too many questions are asked, and some of their outcomes are never utilized.
This lowers the quality of the responses and, in turn, results in lower efficiency in the statistical
inferences.

4. Degree of precision required:

The results of any sample survey are always subjected to some uncertainty. Such uncertainty can be
reduced by taking larger samples or using superior instruments. This involves more cost and more time.
So, deciding the degree of precision required for the data is very important. This also needs to be
conveyed to the surveyor.

5. Method of measurement:
The choice of measuring instrument and the method to measure the data from the population needs to
be specified clearly. For example, the data has to be collected through interviews, questionnaires,
personal visits, a combination of any of these approaches, etc. The forms in which the data is to be
recorded so that the data can be transferred to mechanical equipment for easily creating the data
summary, etc., are also needed to be prepared accordingly.

6. The frame:

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The sampling frame has to be clearly specified. The population is divided into sampling units such that
the units cover the whole population, and every sampling unit is tagged with identification. The list of
all sampling units is called the frame. The frame must cover the whole population, and the units must
not overlap each other in the sense that every element in the population must belong to one and only
one unit. For example, the sampling unit can be an individual member in the family or the whole
family.

7. Selection of sample:
The sample size needs to be specified for the given sampling plan. This helps determine and compare
different sampling plans' relative cost and time. The method and plan adopted for drawing a
representative sample should also be detailed.

8. The Pre-test:
It is advised to try the questionnaire and field methods on a small scale. This may reveal some troubles
and problems that the surveyor may face in large-scale surveys beforehand.

9. Organization of the fieldwork:

How to conduct the survey, how to handle business administrative issues, providing proper training to
surveyors, procedures, plans for handling the non-response and missing observations, etc., are some of
the issues that need to be addressed for organizing the survey work in the fields. The procedure for
early checking of the quality of return should be prescribed. It should be clarified how to handle the
situation when the respondent is unavailable.

10. Summary and analysis of data:

It is to be noted that based on the data objectives, a suitable statistical tool can be chosen that can
answer the relevant questions. A valid data set is required to use the statistical tool, which dictates the
choice of responses to be obtained for the questions in the questionnaire, e.g., the data has to be
qualitative, quantitative, nominal, ordinal, etc. After getting the completed questionnaire back, it needs
to be edited to amend the recording errors and delete the erroneous data. The tabulating procedures,
methods of estimation, and tolerable amount of error in the estimation need to be decided before the
start of the survey. Different estimation methods may be available to get the answer to the same query
from the same data set. So, the data must be collected in a way that is compatible with the chosen
estimation procedure.

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11. Information gained for future surveys:
The completed surveys work as a guide for improved sample surveys in the future. Besides this, they
also supply various types of prior information required to use different statistical tools, e.g., mean,
variance, nature of variability, the cost involved, etc. Any completed sample survey acts as a potential
guide for future surveys. It is generally seen that things do not always go in the same way in any
complex survey as planned earlier. Such precautions and alerts help in avoiding mistakes in the
execution of future surveys.

Variability control in sample surveys:

Variability control is an important issue in any statistical analysis. A general objective is to draw
statistical inferences with minimum variability. Various types of sampling schemes are adopted under
different conditions. These schemes help in controlling the variability at different stages. Such sampling
schemes can be classified in the following way.

1. Before the selection of sampling units

• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Two-stage sampling
• Double sampling etc.

2. At the time of selection of sampling units

• Systematic sampling
• Varying probability sampling

3. After the selection of sampling units

• Ratio method of estimation
• Regression method of estimation
Note that the ratio and regression methods are estimation methods and not drawing samples.

Methods of data collection

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There are different ways of data collection. Some of them are as follows:

1. Physical observations and measurements:

The surveyor contacts the respondent personally through the meeting. He observes the sampling unit
and records the data. The surveyor can always use his prior experience to collect the data in a better
way. For example, a young man telling his age as 60 years old can easily be observed and corrected by
the surveyor.

2. Personal interview:
The surveyor is supplied with a well-prepared questionnaire. The surveyor goes to the respondents and
asks the same questions mentioned in the questionnaire. The data in the questionnaire is then filled out
according to the respondents' responses.

3. Mail enquiry:
The well-prepared questionnaire is sent to the respondents through postal mail, e-mail, etc. The
respondents are requested to fill out the questionnaires and send them back. In the case of postal mail,
the questionnaires are often accompanied by a self-addressed envelope with postage stamps to avoid
any non-response due to the cost of postage.

4. Web-based enquiry:
The survey is conducted online through internet-based web pages. There are various websites that
provide such facilities. The questionnaires are to be in their formats, and the link is sent to the
respondents through e-mail. The respondent is brought to the concerned website by clicking on the link,
and the answers are to be given online. These answers are recorded, and responses, as well as their
statistics, are sent to the surveyor. The respondents should have an internet connection to support the
data collection with this procedure.

5. Registration:
The respondent is required to register the data at some designated place. For example, the number of
births and deaths, along with the details provided by the family members, are recorded at the city
municipal office which the family members provide.

6. Transcription from records:

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The sample of data is collected from the already recorded information. For example, the details of the
number of persons in different families or the number of births/deaths in a city can be obtained directly
from the city municipal office.

The methods in (1) to (5) provide primary data, which means collecting the data directly from the
source. The method in (6) provides secondary data, which means getting the data from primary sources.

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