The Centric Systematic Area-Sample Treated as a Random Sample

Abstract

The practical answer required from the sampling of any biological population distributed over land is a sufficiently narrow definition of the probable limits within which the true mean lies. The centric systematic area-sample (CSS) is defined. Sampling from tabulations of fifty complete enumerations of crops and insects showed that the CSS, analyzed as if random, gave an answer as reliable and precise as a solitary (unrestricted or restricted) random sample. From this, together with ample knowledge of spatial distributions in the field, the general conclusion is: with intelligent caution, one will not go very far wrong, if wrong at all, in analyzing the CSS as if it were random. The finding is of special interest to field workers.