An area sampling frame is an alternative to the most traditional type of sampling frames.
A sampling frame is often defined as a list of elements of the population we want to explore through a sample survey. A slightly more general concept considers that a sampling frame is a tool that allows the identification and access to the elements of the population, even if an explicit list does not exist. [1] Traditional sampling frames are sometimes referred to as list frames [2] [3]
In many cases, suitable lists are not available. This can happen for several reasons, for example:
Area sampling frames are generally defined by two elements:
The oldest field of application area sampling frames has been probably forest inventories, one of the fields with the most obvious geographic component in which the traditional list frame approach cannot be applied. For the same reason, area frames appear as a natural tool for many environmental topics, such as soil surveys and other topics that require spatial statistics tools.
Different area frame approaches have been widely discussed and compared for agricultural statistics. In the 1930's the of the National Agricultural Statistical Service of the US Department of Agriculture introduced area sampling frames for the estimation of crop area and yield on the basis of a sample of areal units (segments [4]). The French Teruti survey [6] chose in the 1960's an approach based on a systematic sample of clusters of points. The Italian AGRIT survey has explored different approaches, comparing segment and point methods. [7] The Joint Research Centre of the EC has conducted a large number of studies on area sampling frame methodology and area frame surveys for agricultural, forestry, environmental and human settlement studies. [8] [9]
The soaring number of applications of satellite images has boosted the interest on area sampling frames, not only because of the use of remote sensing for statistics and because the integration of satellite images has improved the quality of samplig frames and related estimators, [10] but also because satellite images may need to be sampled. [5] [11] Validation of thematic maps produced by satellite image analysis has become one of the main application fields of area sampling frames [12]
An area sampling frame is an alternative to the most traditional type of sampling frames.
A sampling frame is often defined as a list of elements of the population we want to explore through a sample survey. A slightly more general concept considers that a sampling frame is a tool that allows the identification and access to the elements of the population, even if an explicit list does not exist. [1] Traditional sampling frames are sometimes referred to as list frames [2] [3]
In many cases, suitable lists are not available. This can happen for several reasons, for example:
Area sampling frames are generally defined by two elements:
The oldest field of application area sampling frames has been probably forest inventories, one of the fields with the most obvious geographic component in which the traditional list frame approach cannot be applied. For the same reason, area frames appear as a natural tool for many environmental topics, such as soil surveys and other topics that require spatial statistics tools.
Different area frame approaches have been widely discussed and compared for agricultural statistics. In the 1930's the of the National Agricultural Statistical Service of the US Department of Agriculture introduced area sampling frames for the estimation of crop area and yield on the basis of a sample of areal units (segments [4]). The French Teruti survey [6] chose in the 1960's an approach based on a systematic sample of clusters of points. The Italian AGRIT survey has explored different approaches, comparing segment and point methods. [7] The Joint Research Centre of the EC has conducted a large number of studies on area sampling frame methodology and area frame surveys for agricultural, forestry, environmental and human settlement studies. [8] [9]
The soaring number of applications of satellite images has boosted the interest on area sampling frames, not only because of the use of remote sensing for statistics and because the integration of satellite images has improved the quality of samplig frames and related estimators, [10] but also because satellite images may need to be sampled. [5] [11] Validation of thematic maps produced by satellite image analysis has become one of the main application fields of area sampling frames [12]