Abstract
Sampling designs considered for a national scale environmental monitoring programme are compared. Specifically, design strategies designed to monitor one aspect of this environmental programme, agro-ecosystem health, are assessed. Two types of panel survey designs are evaluated within the framework of two-stage sampling. Comparisons of these designs are discussed with regard to precision, cost, and other issues that need to be considered in planning long-term surveys. To compare precision, the underlying variance of a simple estimator of mean difference is derived for each of the two designs. A variance and cost model accounting for the different rotational sampling schemes across designs are developed. Optimum stage allocation for each design are assessed with the variance-cost models. The best choice of design varied with the conditions underlying the variance model and the degree of other sources of survey error expected in the programme.
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Lesser, V.M., Kalsbeek, W.D. A comparison of periodic survey designs employing multi-stage sampling. Environmental and Ecological Statistics 4, 117–130 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018566210491
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018566210491