Syllabus - Winter 2006

Statistics 480 Winter 2006 Survey Sampling Techniques Instructors: Ben Hansen Yasmin Akdas (GSI) 647.5456 or, for appointments: ben.hansen@umich.edu yakdas@umich.edu Office Hours: Tues., Thurs. 2?3pm Mon, Wed. 12-1pm 445F West Hall 441 West Hall Purpose of course: Statistics 480 is an introduction to modern theories and methods of survey sampling. You?ll learn enough to become an informed contributor to a complex survey project on which you might work, to conduct a more limited survey on your own, and to appropriately analyze survey data that has already been collected. And of course we?ll build some expertise at critiquing surveys. In addition to the theoretical training, there will be a course project. In it, the class as a whole will design and implement a survey, on the basis of which each student will (separately) write a course paper. Required text: Richard L. Scheaffer, William Mendenhall III, and R. Lyman Ott (2006). Ele- mentary Survey Sampling, sixth edition. Brooks/Cole Publishing, Belmont, CA. Course topics: ? Qualitative issues in survey design (chs. 1?3) ? Rudimentary analysis of data from surveys ? Basic sample designs and estimates (chs. 4?5) ? Estimation with auxilliary data (ch. 6) ? Special designs and estimates (chs. 7?9; additional material on multi- stage designs) ? Analysis of survey data with weights (§ 11.5; additional material) ? Nonresponse (§ 11.6?7; additional material) ? Estimating population sizes (ch. 10) Required software: R (freeware: http://cran.r-project.org). Prerequisite: Statistics 401, 412, or 425. Grading: Participation 5% Homework 10% Project 15% Midterm I 15% Midterm II 15% Final 40% Projects: As a class, we?ll plan, design, and construct a survey. There will be six subprojects over the course of the term, which you?ll work on both individually and in groups. The final paper, based on this survey, will be due Tuesday, April 11, in lecture. Exams: The dates of the midterms and final are, respectively: Tuesday, February 7 and Tuesday, March 21, during class; and Friday, April 21, 1:30?3:30 p.m. Alternate times are not ordinarily possible. Excepting medical emergencies, requests for special exam times will be considered only during the first week of classes.