Advantages of census over Sampling in Statistics?

Answer 1

There are several advantages of sampling over census (i.e. selection of whole

population for analysis).

Firstly, the costs on sampling should be much lower than that on census. For example,

for the government by-census (note: population census is usually conducted once

every ten years and a by-census is conducted in the middle of the intercensal period),

one fifth of the population is large enough to declare what the government wants to

know. There is no need to spend several times of dollars to interview the entire

population in the society.

Secondly, a quality guru (Deming, 1960) argued that the quality of a study was often

better with sampling than with a census. He suggested that, "Sampling possesses the

possibility of better interviewing(testing), more thorough investigation of missing,

wrong , or suspicious information, better supervision, and better processing than is

possible with complete coverage". Research findings substantiate this opinion. More

than 90% of survey error in one study was from non-sampling error1, and 10% or less

was from sampling error2. (Donald et al., 1995)

Thirdly, sampling can save the time. The speed of execution reduces the time between

the recognition of a need for information and the availability of that information.

1 Non-sampling error is the error of research due to factors other than the sample size and sampling

method, including non-response, bad communication with interviewees, measurement error, etc.

2 Sampling error is the error during research due to the sample size and sampling method.