The concept of a representative sample can be found in nearly every survey description. In general, this means that the sample is a miniature of the population. A scientific definition of the term should include all important aspects of a sample survey. In this paper such a definition is...

Statistical disclosure control (SDC) is a balancing act between mandatory data protection and the comprehensible demand from researchers for access to original data. In this paper, a family of methods is defined to ‘mask’ sensitive variables before data files can be released. In the first...

If nonresponse and/or untruthful answering mechanisms occur, analyzing only the available cases may substantially weaken the validity of sample results. The paper starts with a reference to strategies of empirical social researchers related to respondent cooperation in surveys embedding the...