PARTIAL EXCHANGEABILITY AND SURVEY SAMPLING INFERENCE

The role of the sampling mechanism for Bayesian inference on symmetric functions of a finite population is examined under partial design and partial label information. A new definition of partial exchangeabilit y is proposed, together with a corresponding property of the sampling mechanism. These properties provide conditions under which certain sym metries in priors or designs can protect against lack of symmetry in o thers, in the sense of Scott & Smith (1973).