Page 66 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 4

STS563 Pete Jones
From an LMS perspective, ONS are currently in the process of assessing
the impact of a stratified design on labour market statistics. Compared to the
equal probability sampling used for the current LFS, the proposed design to
have unequal sampling fractions across PCS strata will result in unequal design
weights for labour market estimates. In addition, the proposal to select a fixed
number of cases within the areas selected in each strata will further reduce the
effective size of the LMS sample. We are currently in the process of running
simulations to estimate the design effects that the proposed sample design
will have on LMS outputs. Depending on the results we will consider ways to
improve the sample design if it is unable to deliver the current level of
precision obtained from the LFS collection.
A considerable challenge will be in developing the operational capacity at
ONS to carry out the necessary field work to ensure response to the survey is
maximised. Running a continuous survey of this scale is unprecedented up
until now, and the current aim is to be at full scale by 2022.

References
1. de Leeuw, E. D., & de Heer, W. (2002). Trends in household survey
nonresponse: A longitudinal and international comparison. In R. M. Groves,
A. D. Dillman, J. Eltinge, & R. Little (Eds.), Survey nonresponse (pp. 41-54).
New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons
2. de Leeuw E., Hox J. & Luiten A. (2018), International Nonresponse
Trends across Countries and Years: An analysis of 36 years of Labour
Force Survey data. Survey Insights: Methods from the Field. Retrieved
from https://surveyinsights.org/?p=10452
3. Census Bureau: New Technologies in Census Data Collection. Part 2:
Developing an Electronic Questionnaire, 2016
4. AddressBase is a database of address points in Great Britain, maintained
by Ordnance Survey
5. Methodology of Statistical Population Dataset V2.0, Office for National
Statistics, October 2015
6. The 2011 Census and Coverage Adjustment Process, Office for National
Statistics, July 2012
7. Tore Dalenius and Joseph L. Hodges, Jr, Minimum Variance
Stratification, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 54,
No. 285 (March 1959), pp. 88-101
8. ONS output areas are the smallest level of geography for which
estimates of population size are produced in England and Wales (on
average 125 households per OA)
9. Predicting patterns of household non-response in the 2011census
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/the-2011-
census/processing-the-information/statistical-methodology/predicting-
patterns-of-household-non-response-in-the-2011-census.pdf

55 | I S I W S C 2 0 1 9