MAT2770

Design and analysis of sample surveys

Coordinators: Dr H B Nath and Mr J Hille

4 points - Second semester - Two hours of lectures and one 1-hour tutorial/ computing workshop per week - Gippsland and distance (odd-numbered years only) - Prerequisites: MAT1060 - Prohibitions: MAT3242, MAT3770, MAS3212 (to 1997)

Objectives On completion of this subject students will be able to assess the requirements of a proposed survey and develop the appropriate questionnaire and/or data collection techniques to meet these requirements; design an efficient sample survey using the relevant simple random, stratified random, cluster or wildlife sampling techniques; obtain point estimates for all required parameters and establish appropriate error bounds for these estimates.

Synopsis Design and administration of sample surveys; sources of errors in surveys; data collection techniques. Review of basic statistical concepts: expected values, variances of sums of random variables, properties of estimators, standard errors. Principles of simple random, stratified and cluster sampling for estimating means, totals and proportions; selecting sample size to estimate parameters within specified bounds. The capture-recapture method for estimating the size of wildlife populations using direct or inverse sampling; bounds for the estimate. Use of ratio estimation and of regression estimation to estimate population means and totals.

Assessment Assignments (three): 10% each - Examination (two hours): 70%

Prescribed texts

Scheaffer R L, Mendenhall W and Ott L Elementary survey sampling 5th edn, Duxbury, 1996

Back to the 1999 Science Handbook