Introduction to the sampling process

Now that we have some idea of what data sampling is about and have seen how it can be used in various applications, let us have a closer look at the sampling process.

In order to do sampling, we need to ask ourselves some questions:

1. What really is the phenomena that we are trying to sample and where?

   We first have to understand what it is that we need to get more information about and where.

2. How are we going to do the sampling?

   We need to identify the method in which we will go about our sampling.

3. What and when are we going to measure for the sample?

   Once we get at a sample point, what exactly are we measuring and when is the best time to do it?

We will attempt to address these questions in this section.

Sampling process - Outline

2.1 Populations and samples
2.2 Data sources
2.3 Steps for sampling

To do...

Assume that you will be doing some soil sampling to identify acidity.

Try to answer these three questions for the above problem. Jot them down on a piece of paper and then read on... you will begin to appreciate the amount of work that goes into planning and preparing for a sampling exercise.