Sotomayor chimed in, asking whether it would be fair to use statistical methods to determine the payments to more than 1 million individual plaintiffs and deny Wal-Mart the right to present individual defenses.

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The Nationwide and Halifax surveys use identical statistical methods.

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The Census Bureau thinks the only way to improve the numbers is to make more use of statistical sampling methods.

ECONOMIST: Statistics

In the research I conducted I surveyed methods and data in use in national statistical offices in sub-Saharan Africa.

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