Finite Population
Most statistical theory is premised on an underlying infinite population. By contrast, survey sampling theory and practice are built on a foundation of sampling from a finite population. This basic difference has myriad ramifications, and it highlights why survey sampling is often regarded as a separate branch of statistical thinking. On a philosophical level, the theory brings statistical theory to a human, and thus necessarily finite, level.
Before describing the basic notion of finite population sampling, it is instructive to explore the analogies and differences with sampling from infinite populations. These analogies were first described in Jerzy Neyman's seminal articles in the 1930s and are discussed in basic sampling theory textbooks such as William Cochran's in the 1970s. In the general framework of finite population sampling, ...
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Reader's Guide
Ethical Issues In Survey Research
Measurement - Interviewer
Measurement - Mode
Measurement - Questionnaire
Measurement - Respondent
Measurement - Miscellaneous
Nonresponse - Item-Level
Nonresponse - Outcome Codes And Rates
Nonresponse - Unit-Level
Operations - General
Operations - In-Person Surveys
Operations - Interviewer-Administered Surveys
Operations - Mall Surveys
Operations - Telephone Surveys
Political And Election Polling
Public Opinion
Sampling, Coverage, And Weighting
Survey Industry
Survey Statistics
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