Historical and philosophical reflections on survey sampling 1 |
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| Coordinator 1 | Mr Lukas Griessl (University of Essex) |
| Coordinator 2 | Professor Nick Allum (University of Essex) |
The practice of survey sampling has a long history. After having been first suggested in one way or another during the 17th and 18th centuries, its ‘official’ history began at the end of the 19th century, when Anders Nicolai Kiær suggested sampling as an alternative to full enumeration and the controversies that it sparked at the International Statistics Institute (ISI) (e.g., Kruskal and Mosteller, 1980; Lusinchi, 2021) during the first third of the 20th century. In the course of several conferences at the ISI, supporters of sampling step-by-step convinced the international community of its advantages. After first being met with disdain from statistical communities, survey sampling evolved to become the standard process to understand populations based on a smaller part. Throughout the 20th century, also after the famous misprediction in the context of the 1936 and 1948 US elections, survey sampling thus became more sophisticated, professional, and widespread and is now a ubiquitous practice in modern societies. In the 21st century, the discipline, however, faces new challenges. Response rates declined and costs increased. New modes of data gathering and analysis through online sources and big data challenge the underlying philosophy of survey sampling. The field of survey methodology thus finds itself amidst fundamental challenges that could benefit from revisiting the history, philosophy and sociology of survey sampling, to help find a way through the present challenges. In this panel, we thus want to explore the historical development of survey sampling, and welcome contributions on, but not limited to, the history of major developments and controversies in the discipline, sociological and philosophical reflections on the practice of survey sampling and possible paths to take in the future.