Rotating Panel Design

A rotating panel design is a survey sampling strategy sometimes used when estimates are produced regularly over time. Under such a design, equally sized sets of sample units are brought in and out of the sample in some specified pattern. These sets, often called rotation groups, may be composed of households, business firms, or other units of interest to the survey. Rotating panel designs are used to reduce the variances of estimators of level or change and often to reduce the survey costs associated with introducing a new unit into the sample. The wide variety of such designs reflects (a) the types of data and the estimates to be produced by the survey, (b) the statistical relationships among the characteristics of interest, (c) the operational ...