ABSTRACT
In a world that is increasingly becoming competitive, data-and computing-rich, best practices demand greater use of statistics in decision-making, business, computing applications, economics and government. Two important tools are sample surveys and the linear regression model. Cost considerations often mean that survey data is gathered in blocks and/or sub-blocks of observations that may be influenced or affected by common factors. The best examples concern geographical grouping of regional blocks where one may view blocking and regression as a function of efficient data mining that can lead to making optimal decisions about the parameters of our interests.
