This book is written as a guide to the applied statistical analysis and interpretation
of survey data. The motivation for this text lies in years of teaching
graduate courses in applied methods for survey data analysis and extensive
consultation with social and physical scientists, educators, medical researchers,
and public health professionals on best methods for approaching specific
analysis questions using survey data. The general outline for this text
is based on the syllabus for a course titled “Analysis of Complex Sample
Survey Data” that we have taught for over 10 years in the Joint Program in
Survey Methodology (JPSM) based at the University of Maryland (College
Park) and in the University of Michigan’s Program in Survey Methodology
(MPSM) and Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques.
Readers may initially find the topical outline and content choices a bit
unorthodox, but our instructional experience has shown it to be effective for
teaching this complex subject to students and professionals who have a minimum
of a two-semester graduate level course in applied statistics. The practical,
everyday relevance of the chosen topics and the emphasis each receives
in this text has also been informed by over 60 years of combined experience
in consulting on survey data analysis with research colleagues and students
under the auspices of the Survey Methodology Program of the Institute for
Social Research (ISR) and the University of Michigan Center for Statistical
Consultation and Research (CSCAR). For example, the emphasis placed on
topics as varied as weighted estimation of population quantities, sampling
error calculation models, coding of indicator variables in regression models,
and interpretation of results from generalized linear models derives directly
from our long-term observation of how often naïve users make critical mistakes
in these areas.