OntheUseofAuxiliaryVariablesinAgriculturalSurveysDesign.docVIP

On the Use of Auxiliary Variables in Agricultural Surveys Design Federica Piersimoni Istat, Servizio Agricoltura, Italy, piersimo@istat.it Roberto Benedetti Università degli Studi “G.d’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara, Italy, benedett@unich.it Giuseppe Espa Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy, giuseppe.espa@economia.unitn.it Abstract Auxiliary variables, both univariate and multivariate, must be efficiently used to obtain accurate estimates. They are useful ex ante, that is when the sample has to be drawn, but also ex post, as the weight calibration method. The classical issue on efficient sample design through a stratification based on auxiliary information will be reviewed in comparison with sampling units selection methods that make an appropriate use of auxiliary variables. We will focus our attention on three approaches: the model(based approach, the (ps approach and the ranked set sampling method. While the (ps is a well known sample design method, the model(based approach of sample surveys assumes that a superpopulation model is specified. Ranked set sampling (further on RSS) has been introduced by McIntyre (1952). Since the publication of this seminal work, the literature proposed numerous RSS extensions for both parametric and non(parametric estimates. In its original formulation, RSS starts with the selection of a simple random sample without reinsertion of n population units. Then the mean must be estimated from those units. The n are ranked in increasing order with respect to an auxiliary variable x, that is, without the effective calculation of the interest variable y. Which method is the best depends on the application at hand. To show some evidence, we compare the methods on real data on the slaughtering sector, for which the sample strata and the variables estimates are calculated, following the suggestions that are contained in Dorfman and Valliant (2000). Finally a comparison between ex-ante and ex(post use of the auxiliary information is performed