Dual-Filter Estimation for Rotating-Panel Sample Designs

Dual-filter estimators are described and tested for use in the annual estimation for national forest inventories. The dual-filter approach involves the use of a moving widow estimator in the first pass, which is used as input to Theil’s mixed estimator in the second pass. The moving window and dual-filter estimators are tested along with two other estimators in a sampling simulation of 152 simulated populations, which were developed from data collected in 38 states and Puerto Rico by the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program of the USDA Forest Service. The dual-filter estimators are shown to almost always provide some reduction in mean squared error (MSE) relative to the first pass moving window estimators.