Multiple imputation for nonresponse in surveys using design weights and auxiliary margins

Abstract

Survey data typically have missing values due to unit and item nonresponse. Sometimes, survey organizations know the marginal distributions of certain categorical variables in the target population. As shown in previous work, survey organizations can leverage these distributions in multiple imputation for nonignorable unit non-response, generating imputations that result in plausible completed-data estimates for the variables with known margins. However, this prior work does not use the design weights for unit nonrespondents. We extend this previous work to utilize the design weights for all sampled units. We illustrate the approach using simulation studies.

14 pages, 1 figure. Published in Survey Methodology, 52(1), 259-270 (2026). Paper available at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/12-001-x/2026001/article/00002-eng.pdf, codes available at https://github.com/kevinxu47/MDAM