The Online Proceedings of the Survey Research Methods Section (SRMS) for the 2016 Joint Statistical Meetings, held in Chicago, are available online now.

The section is actively searching for a student to work on assembling the proceedings for the next JSM (with a $500 stipend). If you are a student interested in working on this project, contact the section’s publication officer, Tony An.

2017 JSM Updates

JSM 2017, to be held in Baltimore, is fast approaching. The Survey Research Methods Section sponsors 10 invited sessions, 13 topic-contributed sessions, and 12 contributed sessions. In addition, the section sponsors traditional and speed poster sessions, three full-day short courses, and two P.M. roundtables. Here is a preview of the 2017 lineup:

Continuing Education Courses

• Synthetic Data Sets for Statistical Disclosure Limitation

  Led by Jörg Drechsler of the Institute for Employment Research, IAB, Nuremberg, Germany, and Jerry Reiter of Duke University

  This course focuses on practical aspects of confidentiality protection and provides an overview of modeling strategies, analytical validity evaluations, and potential measures to quantify the remaining risk of disclosure, with illustrations of R programming.

• Construction of Weights in Surveys

  Led by David Haziza of the University of Montréal

  This course offers a detailed description of weighting methods, including inversion of probability of selection, nonresponse adjustment, calibration, and trimming adjustments.

• Research and Analysis Workflows: Low-Cost, Every-Day Project Management Techniques, Tools, and Tips That Produce High-Quality, Streamlined, Stress-Free Research and Data Science

  Led by Matt Jans of Abt Associates and Abhijit Gupta of ARAASTAT

  The first half of this course introduces general project and time management techniques. The second half focuses on best practices for the data science pipeline to minimize errors, maximize time to think, and maintain reproducibility.

Invited Sessions

• Bayesian Adaptive Survey Designs, organized by Natalie Shlomo of the University of Manchester
• Improper Imputation, organized by Paul T. von Hippel of The University of Texas
• Recent Development of Bayesian Methods in Survey Sampling, organized by Yajuan Si of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Session in Honor of Jim Lepkowski’s Retirement, organized by Michael R. Elliott of the University of Michigan
• Analyzing Government Data with Missing Item Values: A WSS Invited Session, organized by Phillip Kott of RTI International
• Environmental Surveys: A Hot Spot for Statisticians, organized by Stanislav Kolenikov of Abt SRBI
• Multiple Imputation for Complex Health Survey Data, organized by Joseph Kang of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
• Nonparametric Saturated Methods to Handle Nonignorable Missing Data, organized by Mauricio Sadinle of Duke University
• Recent Developments in Survey Sampling, Session in Honor of J.N.K. Rao’s 80th Birthday, organized by David Haziza of the University of Montréal
• Using Big Data to Improve Official Economic Statistics, organized by Carma R. Hogue of the U.S. Census Bureau

Topic-Contributed Sessions

• Current Themes in Record Linkage Research, organized by Jana L. Asher of AABB
• Improving Efficiency and Maintaining High Data Quality: Outcomes for the 2017 Survey of Consumer Finances, organized by Catherine C. Haggerty of NORC at the University of Chicago
• Methods for Imputing Missing Survey Data, organized by Daniell Toth of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Multiple Imputation for Measurement Errors and Other Structured Patterns of Missing Data, organized by Philipp Gaffert of GfK
• Practical Applications of Small Area Estimation, organized by Andreea L. Erciulescu of NISS and USDA NASS
• New Developments in Small Area Estimation Research at the U.S. Census Bureau, organized by Robert Ashmead of the U.S. Census Bureau
• Nonparametric Modeling of Survey Data, organized by Daniell Toth of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Non-Probability Sampling and Estimation: Fit for Purpose Designs, organized by Karol Krotki of RTI International
• Nontraditional Approaches for Sampling Rare Populations, organized by Sunghee Lee of the University of Michigan
• Time-Trend Analysis with Complex Survey Data, organized by Dan Liao of RTI International
• Advances in Modeling Multilevel Observational Data from Complex Surveys, organized by Mulugeta Gebregziabher of MUSC
• GSS/SSS/SRMS Student Paper Award Presentations, organized by Stanislav Kolenikov of Abt SRBI
• Improving Data Quality and Estimation Methods for the Current Employment Establishment Survey, organized by Greg Erkens of the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Contributed Sessions

• Combining Data and Use of Administrative Lists
• Estimation with Complex Samples
• Estimation with Non-Probability Samples
• Estimation with Statistical Models
• Impact of Data Collection Modes and Data Sources
• Imputation and Nonresponse Bias
• Instrumentation and Data Quality
• Predicting Attrition and Adaptive Strategies
• Sample Design
• Small Area Estimation and Use of Unit-Level Models
• Weighting Adjustments
• Weighting and Variance Estimation

P.M. Roundtables

• The Connectivity of Data Science to Survey Design and Statistical Practice, led by Steve Cohen of RTI International

  This roundtable will focus on the capacity of data science to improve the design of surveys and their operations. We will also discuss strategies for reducing survey errors and enhancing data quality.

• Election 2016 Polling: What We Learned, led by Mark Schulman of Abt SRBI

  We will cover both the methodological issues and the sizeable misses by many pollsters, as well as substantive issues in campaign strategies, electoral map, and media coverage.

The SRMS will hold its annual poster competitions in which the most informative and interesting posters will be awarded with cash prizes. The traditional poster session will be from 10:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. on August 1. SRMS has 11 contributed posters during this session.

The SRMS also gives out awards for winners in a speed presentation session that consists of 20 presenters. The speed presentation involves two parts. The first is for oral presentation and will take place from 8:30 a.m.–10:20 a.m. on August 2. Each presenter will talk for five minutes about their work. The second part is for “learning more.” It will immediately follow the oral session, taking place from 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m. Each presenter is provided a computer to present their work in detail.

If you are interested in volunteering as a judge for either the poster competition or speed presentation, contact SRMS program chair-elect, Stas Kolenikov. The winners will be announced at the section’s business meeting on the evening of August 2.