ABSTRACT
This introduction presents some key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the Interest in adaptive survey design (ASD) in the past several years. Survey statisticians may be very good at deriving designs that employ external data such that a certain set of objectives is optimized, but only theoretically and under conditions that may not be realistic. Data from external sources have been widely used in sampling design and estimation, but only occasionally in data collection itself. With the computerization of surveys, including telephone and in-persons surveys, it has become possible to make use of these survey process data, or paradata, during data collection. Survey managers are very aware of trends in survey data collection and may have a strong sense of the design features that would work under specific conditions and constraints, but may not have the time or knowledge to optimize choices under these conditions and constraints.
