Two stage sampling design for estimation of total fertility rate: with an illustration for slum dweller married women

Abstract

Two Stage Sampling procedure has been found to be much more acceptable for demographic surveys owing to the lower cost involved and also due to the fact that it gives rise to a good representative sample. .As such, it has been found to be much acceptable for estimating total fertility rate (TFR), an important measure of fertility.  The objective of this paper is to estimate the TFR in the slum pockets of Guwahati city in Assam under two stage sampling technique and to bring out a comparative analysis of the TFR calculated under the proposed sampling design and under the Simple Random Sampling (SRS) method.The study reveals that the overall fertility scenario in the slum areas of Guwahati, as far as TFR is concerned, when calculated under two stage sampling technique is above the replacement level. However, the TFR calculated by SRS method is found to be almost equal to the replacement level, implying under estimation of TFR when calculated by this method.  Moreover, it has been seen that the adjusted TFRs derived after adjusting the biases marginally increases in case of SRS technique and decreases in case of two stage sampling technique. The MSE s are found to be higher in case of conventional technique, implying that the sampling error involved in the conventional method is more as compared to two stage sampling technique. We may thus consider two stage sampling method as a better technique for estimating TFR.