title: Estimating population size with two- and three-stage sampling designs.
abstract: Reliable estimates of population size are important for developing and monitoring health programs in at-risk populations. Laska, Meisner, and Siegel (Biometrics 1988;44:461-72) developed an unbiased estimator for the size of a population at a single venue based on a single sample. Because many populations of interest are not contained within a single venue, this article generalizes the Laska, Meisner, and Siegel estimator to incorporate two- and three-stage sampling designs and enable estimation of total population size over multiple venues. Use of the estimator with two- and three-stage sampling designs is illustrated with examples that estimate the size of a population of individuals who socialize over a 4-week period at public venues where transmission of human immunodeficiency virus and other sexually transmitted infections is likely to occur.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. jqt8@cdc.gov
authors.forename: Jacqueline E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Tate
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Hudgens
mesh_terms: D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D011156:Population Density; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000379:methods*