[R] survey package: proportion estimate confidence intervals using svymean

Peter Holck holck at hawaii.edu
Wed Feb 13 10:04:07 CET 2008


Using the survey package I find it is convenient and easy to get estimated
proportions using svymean, and their corresponding estimated standard
errors.  But is there any elegant/simple way to calculate corresponding
confidence intervals for those proportions?  Of course +/- 1.96 s.e. is a
reasonable approximation for a 95% CI, but (incorrectly) assumes symmetrical
distribution for a proportion.  

About all I can think of is to transform onto some scale like the logit
scale, use the delta method to estimate standard errors, and transform back
for appropriate confidence intervals.  Or perhaps use the machinery of the
survey package svyglm function with logit link (family=quasibinomial) to do
the calculations for me.  Still, seems rather cumbersome.  Is there a better
solution?

Thanks for any suggestions or pointing out the errors in my logic!
Peter Holck



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