M. Rueda

University of Granada | UGR · Department Statistics and Operations Research

Introduction The European Environment Agency estimates that 75% of the European population lives in cities. Despite the many advantages of city life, the risks and challenges to health arising from urbanisation need to be addressed in order to tackle the growing burden of disease and health inequalities in cities. This study, Urban environment and...

Background Surveys have been used worldwide to provide information on the COVID-19 pandemic impact so as to prepare and deliver an effective Public Health response. Overlapping panel surveys allow longitudinal estimates and more accurate cross-sectional estimates to be obtained thanks to the larger sample size. However, the problem of non-response...

Tobacco use poses major health risks and is a major contributor to causes of death worldwide. Mobile phone-based cessation apps for this substance are gaining popularity, often used as a component of traditional interventions. This study aimed to analyze adherence to an intervention using a mobile phone application (App-therapy Prescinde (v1)) as a...

Tobacco and cannabis use pose major health risks and are major contributors to causes of death worldwide. Mobile phone-based cessation apps for these substances are gaining popularity, often used as a component of traditional interventions. This study aimed to analyze adherence to an intervention using a mobile phone application (App-therapy Presci...

Background Healthcare statistical services have used probability surveys to respond to such information needs. The Health Care and Social Survey (ESSOC) research project arises from the need to provide data on the evolution of the COVID-19 impact. This survey has an overlapping panel survey design with 4 measurements throughout 1 year with random s...

Background The use of health surveys has been key in the scientific community to promptly communicate results about the health impact of COVID-19. But what information was collected, where, when and how, and who was the study population? Objective To describe the methodological characteristics used in large health surveys conducted in Spain early...

Healthcare statistical services worldwide have used probability surveys to provide information on the social, economic and health impact of COVID-19, or its seroprevalence and evolution, or the characteristics of the infected population. The Healthcare and Social Survey (ESSA, Spanish acronym) arises from the need to provide data on the evolution o...

Background The European Environment Agency estimates that 75% of the European population lives in cities. Despite the many advantages of city life, the risks and challenges to health arising from urbanization need to be addressed to tackle the growing burden of disease and health inequalities in the cities. This article presents the study protocol...

Survey calibration is a widely used method to estimate the population mean or total score of a target variable, particularly in medical research. In this procedure, auxiliary information related to the variable of interest is used to recalibrate the estimation weights. However, when the auxiliary information includes qualitative variables, traditio...

In social surveys, respondents often do not answer honestly when asked sensitive questions about behavior that is illegal or not accepted by society. Warner [71] developed a data collection procedure, the Randomized Response (RR) technique, which enables researchers to obtain sensitive information while ensuring the privacy of respondents. The meth...

Many surveys are performed using non-probability methods such as web surveys, social networks surveys, or opt-in panels. The estimates made from these data sources are usually biased and must be adjusted to make them representative of the target population. Techniques to mitigate this selection bias in non-probability samples often involve calibrat...

Web surveys have replaced Face‐to‐Face and computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) as the main mode of data collection in most countries. This trend was reinforced as a consequence of COVID‐19 pandemic‐related restrictions. However, this mode still faces significant limitations in obtaining probability‐based samples of the general populatio...

The calibration method has been widely used to incorporate auxiliary information in the estimation of various parameters. Specifically, some authors adapted this method to estimate the distribution function, although their proposal is computationally simple, its efficiency depends on the selection of an auxiliary vector of points. This work deals w...

The development of new survey data collection methods such as online surveys has been particularly advantageous for social studies in terms of reduced costs, immediacy and enhanced questionnaire possibilities. However, many such methods are strongly affected by selection bias, leading to unreliable estimates. Calibration and Propensity Score Adjust...

The analysis of poverty measures has been receiving increased attention in recent years. This paper contributes to the literature by developing percentile ratio estimators when there are missing data. Calibration adjustment is used for treating the non-response bias. Variances of the proposed estimators could be not expressible by simple formulae a...

Extant scholarship on attitudes toward immigration and immigrants relies mostly on direct survey items. Thus, little is known about the scope of social desirability bias, and even less about its covariates. In this paper, we use probability-based mixed-modes panel data collected in the Southern Spanish region of Andalusia to estimate anti-immigrant...

In the last years, web surveys have established themselves as one of the main methods in empirical research. However, the effect of coverage and selection bias in such surveys has undercut their utility for statistical inference in finite populations. To compensate for these biases, researchers have employed a variety of statistical techniques to a...

A tremendous number of studies describe results on the evolution of the COVID-19 impact on infected patients, hospital admissions, deaths, mental health and well-being of the population. However, there are hardly any reports on its impact and evolution since the beginning of the pandemic with clinical, contextual and individual perception informati...

Dual frame surveys are a device to reduce the costs derived from data collection in surveys and improve coverage for the whole target population. Since their introduction, in the 1960‘s, dual frame surveys have gained much attention and several estimators have been formulated based on a number of different approaches. In this work, we propose new d...

This manuscript describes the rationale and protocol of a real-world data (RWD) study entitled Health Care and Social Survey (ESSOC, Encuesta Sanitaria y Social). The study’s objective is to determine the magnitude, characteristics, and evolution of the COVID-19 impact on overall health as well as the socioeconomic, psychosocial, behavioural, occup...

Background : This manuscript describes the rationale and protocol of a real-world data (RWD) study entitled Health Care and Social Survey (ESSOC , Encuesta Sanitaria y Social ). The study’s objective is to determine the magnitude, characteristics, and evolution of the COVID-19 impact on overall health as well as the socioeconomic, psychosocial, beh...

Background: This manuscript describes the rationale and protocol of a real-world data (RWD) study entitled Health Care and Social Survey (ESSOC, Encuesta Sanitaria y Social). The study’s objective is to determine the magnitude, characteristics, and evolution of the COVID-19 impact on overall health as well as the socioeconomic, psychosocial, behavi...

This manuscript describes the rationale and protocol of a real-world data (RWD) study entitled Health Care and Social Survey (ESSOC , Encuesta Sanitaria y Social ). The study’s objective is to determine the magnitude, characteristics, and evolution of the COVID-19 impact on overall health as well as the socioeconomic, psychosocial, behavioural, occ...

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) often suffer high levels of depression, stress, anxiety and burnout. Our main study aimswereto estimate the prevalences of poor self-perceived health, life dissatisfaction, chronic disease and unhealthy habits among HCPs and to explore the use of machine learning classification algorithms to remove selection bias. A...

Randomized response (RR) techniques are widely used in research involving sensitive variables, such as drugs, violence or crime, especially when a population mean or prevalence must be estimated. However, they are not generally applied to examine relationships between a sensitive variable and other characteristics. This type of technique was initia...

Information such as the prevalence and frequency of criminal behaviour is difficult to estimate using standard survey techniques because of the tendency of respondents to withhold or misrepresent information. Social desirability bias is a significant threat to the validity of self-reported data, especially when supplied by persons such as sexual of...

The convenience of online surveys has quickly increased their popularity for data collection. However, this method is often non-probabilistic as they usually rely on selfselection procedures and internet coverage. These problems produce biased samples. In order to mitigate this bias, some methods like Statistical Matching and Propensity Score Adjus...

This study introduces a general framework on inference for a general parameter using nonprobability survey data when a probability sample with auxiliary variables, common to both samples, is available. The proposed framework covers parameters from inequality measures and distribution function estimates but the scope of the paper is broader. We deve...

The estimation of a finite population distribution function is considered when there are missing data. Calibration adjustment is used for dealing with nonresponse at the estimation stage. Several procedures are proposed and compared. A numerical study is carried out to evaluate the performances of estimators. Computational problems with the impleme...

Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a snowball-type sampling method used to survey hidden populations, that is, those that lack a sampling frame. In this work, we consider the problem of regression modeling and association for continuous RDS data. We propose a new sample weight method for estimating non-linear parameters such as the covariance and...

Methods to analyze multicategorical variables are extensively used in sociological, medical and educational research. Nonetheless, they have a very sparse presence in finite population sampling when sensitive topics are investigate and data are obtained by means of the randomized response technique (RRT), a survey method based on the principle that...

Online surveys are increasingly common in social and health studies, as they provide fast and inexpensive results in comparison to traditional ones. However, these surveys often work with biased samples, as the data collection is often non-probabilistic because of the lack of internet coverage in certain population groups and the self-selection pro...

New calibrated estimators of quantiles and poverty measures are proposed. These estimators combine the incorporation of auxiliary information provided by auxiliary variables related to the variable of interest by calibration techniques with the selection of optimal calibration points under simple random sampling without replacement. The problem of...

Understanding how and why physical intimate partner violence (IPV) persists in high-risk communities has proven difficult. As IPV is both sensitive and illegal, people may be inclined to misreport their views and experiences. By embedding a list randomization experiment (LRE), which increases respondent privacy, in a survey of 809 adult Arsi Oromo...

Modern survey methods may be subject to non-observable bias, from various sources. Among online surveys, for example, selection bias is prevalent, due to the sampling mechanism commonly used, whereby participants self-select from a subgroup whose characteristics differ from those of the target population. Several techniques have been proposed to ta...

The use of probability-based panels that collect data via online or mixed-mode surveys has increased in the last few years as an answer to the growing concern with the quality of the data obtained with traditional survey modes. However, in order to adequately represent the general population, these tools must address the same sources of bias that a...

Online surveys, despite their cost and effort advantages, are particularly prone to selection bias due to the differences between target population and potentially covered population (online population). This leads to the unreliability of estimates coming from online samples unless further adjustments are applied. Some techniques have arisen in the...

A key aspect of the design of evolutionary and swarm intelligence algorithms is studying their performance. Statistical comparisons are also a crucial part which allows for reliable conclusions to be drawn. In the present paper we gather and examine the approaches taken from different perspectives to summarise the assumptions made by these statisti...

A key aspect of the design of evolutionary and swarm intelligence algorithms is studying their performance. Statistical comparisons are also a crucial part which allows for reliable conclusions to be drawn. In the present paper we gather and examine the approaches taken from different perspectives to summarise the assumptions made by these statisti...

Background: The real meaning of the term nomophobia remains somewhat obscure in studies assessing this disorder. There is an increasing interest in further exploring nomophobia: however, currently available measuring tools appear to only address mobile phone abuse and/or addiction. The objective of this study was to create a Spanish-language instru...

This article analyzes the efficacy of the randomized response technique (RRT) in achieving honest self-reporting about sexual behavior, compared with traditional survey techniques. A complex survey was conducted of 1,246 university students in Spain, who were asked sensitive quantitative questions about their sexual behavior, either via the RRT (n...

A sample selected from a single sampling frame may not represent adequatly the entire population. Multiple frame surveys are becoming increasingly used and popular among statistical agencies and private organizations, in particular in situations where several sampling frames may provide better coverage or can reduce sampling costs for estimating po...

This paper introduces small area estimators of poverty indexes, with special attention to the poverty rate (or Head Count Index), and studies the sampling design consistency and the asymptotic normality of these estimators. The estimators are assisted by nested error regression models and are model-assisted counterparts of model-based empirical bes...

In this article, we describe the methods employed and the results obtained from a mixed-mode “sensitive research” conducted in Spain to estimate certain aspects concerning patterns of cannabis consumption and sexual addiction among university students. Three different data-collection methods are considered and compared: direct questioning, randomiz...

This paper considers new techniques for complex surveys in the case of estimation of proportions when the variable of interest has ordinal outcomes. Ordinal modelassisted and ordinal model-calibrated estimators are introduced for class frequencies in a population, taking two different approaches. Theoretical properties and numerical methods are inv...

One of the main sources of inaccuracy in modern survey techniques, such as online and smart-phone surveys, is the absence of an adequate sampling frame that could provide a probabilistic sampling. This kind of data collection leads to the presence of high amounts of bias in final estimates of the survey, specially if the estimated variables (also k...

Large scale surveys are increasingly delving into sensitive topics such as gambling, alcoholism, drug use, sexual behavior, domestic violence. Sensitive, stigmatizing or even incriminating themes are difficult to investigate by using standard data-collection techniques since respondents are generally reluctant to release information concerning thei...

Female genital cutting (FGC) has major implications for women’s physical, sexual and psychological health, and eliminating the practice is a key target for public health policy-makers. To date one of the main barriers to achieving this has been an inability to infer privately-held views on FGC within communities where it is prevalent. As a sensitiv...

Sensitive questions in four versions of the survey. (DOCX)

Generating the list, data quality tests and sampling strategy. (DOCX)

Sub group analyses between question methodology (direct versus unmatched count technique) and individual traits (gender, education level and age group), with combined estimates for FGC support (for both daughters and daughters in law), n = 1620. (DOCX)

Nomophobia is defined as the fear of being out of mobile phone contact and is considered to be a phobia of the modern age. The current study set out to establish the relationship between temperament and personality and the development of nomophobia. The sample was composed of 968 participants selected from the Andalusian population, of which there...

This article discusses the estimation of a population proportion, using the auxiliary information available, which is incorporated into the estimation procedure by a probit model fit. Three probit regression estimators are considered, using model-based and model-assisted approaches. The theoretical properties of the proposed estimators are derived...

This paper introduces estimators of domain means assisted by nested error regression models. The new estimators are modifications of empirical best linear unbiased predictors that takes into account the sampling weights. They are obtained by summing up the model-based predicted values adjusted by a weighted sum residuals. The paper studies the samp...

Decisional Balance and Processes of Change are generally addressed in motivational interventions for the treatment of cannabis use disorders. However, specific aspects of these multifaceted constructs, with greater relevance for severe cannabis users, need to be ascertained to enable better interventions. This study aimed to compare the different f...

The SPSS data file. (SAV)

The protocol used in the study. (DOCX)

To collect sensitive data, survey statisticians have designed many strategies to reduce nonresponse rates and social desirability response bias. In recent years, the item count technique (ICT) has gained considerable popularity and credibility as an alternative mode of indirect questioning survey, and several variants of this technique have been pr...

For surveys of sensitive issues in life sciences, statistical procedures can be used to reduce nonresponse and social desirability response bias. Both of these phenomena provoke nonsampling errors that are difficult to deal with and can seriously flaw the validity of the analyses. The item sum technique (IST) is a very recent indirect questioning m...

Statistical tests has arisen as a reliable procedure for the validation of results in many kind of problems. In particular, due to their robustness and applicability, non-parametric tests are a common and useful tool in the process of design and evaluation of a machine learning algorithm or in the context of an optimization problem. New trends in t...

Surveys usually include questions where individuals must select one in a series of possible options that can be sorted. On the other hand, multiple frame surveys are becoming a widely used method to decrease bias due to undercoverage of the target population. In this work, we propose statistical techniques for handling ordinal data coming from a mu...

PRÓLOGO En el mundo, la crisis económica asociada al fenómeno de la globalización ha impactado negativamente en las condiciones económicas y de bienestar social de los países, sean pobres o ricos. Particularmente, en América Latina, la crisis ha acentuado los problemas estructurales asociados al subdesarrollo, como son desigualdad, pobreza, migraci...

Objectives: To calculate the prevalence of disabling chronic pain (DCP) and to offer a more representative and accurate estimation by applying different calibration techniques. Settings: 2011 Andalusian Health Survey, a cross-sectional population survey based on face-to-face home interviews. Participants: 6507 people aged 16 years or older and...

The rapid evolution of technology in last decades has allowed conducting studies for complex surveys. Over time, the software is used in all steps of the survey: survey design, data collection, statistical data edition, statistical analysis, and publication results. In this chapter we describe software that can be used in conducting surveys using r...

For the collection of data related to sensitive issues, randomized response (RR) techniques have been proposed. RR techniques provide more reliable data, protect respondents’ confidentiality, and avoid an unacceptable rate of nonresponses. In optional RR, a section of people, those who feel that the subject of enquiry is not confidential enough and...

In this chapter, the problem of estimating a population mean with the help of the newly tuned model assisted estimation methodology is developed by assuming that the auxiliary information is available at the unit level in the population. The newly tuned model assisted estimator does an excellent job for small samples in the case of both the chi-squ...

In this chapter, we discuss the problem of estimation in survey sampling. The Statistical Jumbo Pumpkin Model (SJPM) is developed, which can produce very light to very heavy pumpkins, and is naturally correlated with their known circumferences. R code, used for generating the SJPM, is provided. A population of pumpkins is generated using the SJPM a...

In this chapter, we present the problem of estimating the finite population variance with the help of the newly tuned estimation methodology. The newly tuned model assisted estimator of finite population variance is studied under both the chi-squared and the dual-to-empirical log-likelihood (dell) functions. The R code for studying the reliability...

In this chapter, the problem of tuning the estimator of the correlation coefficient using empirical log-likelihood style techniques is considered. In practice, it is difficult to estimate the variance of the estimator of the correlation coefficient. However, the proposed newly tuned method leads to a very successful estimator of variance of the est...

In this chapter, we consider the tuning of the estimator of population total using probability proportional to size and without replacement (PPSWOR) sampling scheme. A new linear regression type estimator under PPSWOR sampling scheme is proposed. The proposed tuned estimator is free of second order inclusion probabilities and provides a simple and...

This work proposes a general class of estimators for the population total of a sensitive variable using auxiliary information. Under a general randomized response model, the optimal estimator in this class is derived. Design-based properties of proposed estimators are obtained. A simulation study reflects the potential gains from the use of the pro...

The estimation of a finite population distribution function under a dual frame context is considered when auxiliary population information is available. Several procedures are defined and compared to various methods adapted from the literature. The asymptotic distribution of the proposed estimators is established, a brief simulation is implemented...

The complete shape of an active fold in the western margin of the South Caspian Basin is established with a seismic section from a post-stacked cube migrated in depth. The structure is an open anticline, which deforms a thick sequence (more than 7 km) of Late Miocene to Pliocene sediments: the productive series (PS 5.9–3.1 Ma). A major erosive unco...

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in developed countries, and has a significant impact on mental and physical health in the general population. Although the evaluation of levels of substance use is difficult, a method such as the randomized response technique (RRT), which includes both a personal component and an assurance of confidenti...

En el mundo, la crisis económica asociada al fenómeno de la globalización ha impactado negativamente en las condiciones económicas y de bienestar social de los países, sean pobres o ricos. Particularmente, en América Latina, la crisis ha acentuado los problemas estructurales asociados al subdesarrollo, como son desigualdad, pobreza, migración, inse...

The calibration technique (Deville and Särndal, 1992) to estimate the finite distribution function has been studied in several papers. Calibration seeks for new weights close enough to sampling weights according to some distance function and that, at the same time, match benchmark constraints on available auxiliary information. The non smooth chara...

In this chapter, we consider the problem of tuning the estimators of population mean in stratified random sampling design, using both the chi-squared type and the dual-to-empirical log-likelihood (dell) type distance functions when the population mean of the auxiliary variable at the stratum level is available or known. The tuned estimators are sup...

In this chapter, we introduce the new concept of tuning design weights, which, in turn, leads to a computer friendly tuning methodology. The proposed methodology results in an estimator that is equivalent to the linear regression estimator of the population mean or total. The newly tuned estimation methodology is able to efficiently and effectively...

In this chapter, we introduce the idea of using multiauxiliary information for semi-tuning the estimators of population mean and finite population variance under simple random sampling. The use of multiauxiliary information for fully tuning estimators is addressed in the exercises. A new set of three tuning constraints is also introduced. These con...

In this chapter, the problem of estimating a population total using the concept of a multicharacter survey is addressed. The newly tuned multicharacter survey estimators that we introduce are studied for the probability proportional to size and with replacement sampling scheme. Simulation results with the relevant R code, are reported. The code is...

A New Concept for Tuning Design Weights in Survey Sampling: Jackknifing in Theory and Practice introduces the new concept of tuning design weights in survey sampling by combining three techniques: calibration, jackknifing, and (where needed) imputation. This new methodology suggests principles, around which survey statisticians can develop statisti...

A New Concept for Tuning Design Weights in Survey Sampling: Jackknifing in Theory and Practice introduces the new concept of tuning design weights in survey sampling by combining three techniques: calibration, jackknifing, and (where needed) imputation. This new methodology suggests principles, around which survey statisticians can develop statisti...

This book introduces a new statistical survey methodology that can be used to estimate population parameters, presenting three concepts for discussion, including calibration, jackknifing, and imputing where needed. KEY FEATURES  Explains how to calibrate design weights in survey sampling  Discusses how Jackknifing is needed in design weights in s...

Study question: How does the estimated prevalence of infertility among 30- to 49-year-old women vary when using different approaches to its measurement? Summary answer: The prevalence of women with difficulties in conceiving differed widely according to the measurement approach adopted. What is known already: Establishing the true magnitude of...

Randomized response (RR) techniques may be used to compile more reliable data, to protect the respondent’s confidentiality, and to avoid an unacceptable rate of nonresponse when the information requested is sensitive (e.g., concerning racism, drug use, abortion, delinquency, AIDS, or academic cheating). Standard RR methods are used primarily in sur...

The rapid proliferation of cell phone use and the accompanying decline in landline service in recent years have resulted in substantial potential for coverage bias in landline random-digit-dial telephone surveys, which has led to the implementation of dual-frame designs that incorporate both landline and cell phone samples. Consequently, researcher...

Data from complex survey designs require special consideration with regard to estimation of finite population parameters and corresponding variance estimation procedures, as a consequence of significant departures from the simple random sampling assumption. In the past decade a number of statistical software packages have been developed to facilita...

Ya lo decía Huntsberger: "La palabra estadística a menudo nos trae a la mente imágenes de números apilados en grandes arreglos y tablas, de volúmenes de cifras relativas a nacimientos, muertes, impuestos, poblaciones, ingresos, deudas, créditos y así sucesivamente”, pero es algo que va mucho más allá de esta simple concepción. Es para mí muy satisf...

Nonparametric regression has become largely used for estimating the regression function in a wide range of fields. We consider the problem of estimating the population total in dual frame surveys. A model-assisted estimator, that can handle continuous covariates is proposed. Asymptotic properties of the proposed method are provided under certain re...