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SAMPLING FRAMES FOR FARM SURVEYS IN THE U.K.: SOME ALTERNATIVES |
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| Authors: | Andrew Errington |
| Affiliation: | †Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, University of Reading, Earley Gate, P.O. Box No. 236, Reading RG6 2AT. *The author acknowledges with gratitude the comments of Harold Casey, Robert Curnow and an anonymous reviewer on an earlier draft of this paper. |
| Abstract: | The lack of a suitable sampling frame can be a major problem facing those who wish to gather information from farm surveys but who do not have access to comprehensive lists of agricultural holdings. This paper considers two alternatives. The feasibility and sampling efficiency of using the natural clusters of farms contained within parishes is first examined using information gained from a survey of farms in the Vale of the White Horse District of Oxfordshire. The same survey also provides an opportunity to evaluate the suitability of ‘Yellow Pages’ Telephone Directories as a sampling frame for farm surveys. It is concluded that surveys based on such a frame will provide estimates of the values of population parameters sufficiently accurate for most purposes. |
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