Census Survey And Sample Survey

Census Survey And Sample Survey:

Census survey means survey or complete enumeration of population with certain objectives. The government in India after every ten years conducts such census survey. The entire geographical area and entire population is covered in census survey. The data collected are tabulated and published as census report. Such census data are used for different purposes including economic planning and policy decisions. Census survey is a costly and time-consuming activity and also needs huge organization and manpower for its orderly conduct. In commercial research, such census survey is not conducted due to various constraints particularly relating to funds, time and manpower.

Census implies collection of information from each element of the group or population of interest, (e.g. Survey of industrial consumers). In many cases, complete enumeration is not possible and the only alternative available is sampling.

Sample survey is the survey of a small representative part of the population taken up for detailed scrutiny and study purpose. A sample is a small representative of the whole and conclusions drawn from such sample are equally applicable to the entire population. Sample survey gives the benefits of census survey but with less time, expenditure and manpower. It is a better substitute to census survey. Sample surveys are commonly conducted in marketing research projects and gives promising results.

A survey which is carried out using a sampling method i.e. using a representative portion of the whole population is called sample survey which is a short cut alternative to census survey but gives similar benefits.