Archaeological Sampling Strategies

Figures & data

Figure 1. Initial Map of an Archaeological Site.

Figure 2. Layout for Comparing Simple Random Sampling to Stratified Random Sampling.

Figure 3. Class Results for Comparing Simple Random Sampling to Stratified Random Sampling.

Table

Stratified Random Sampling	Simple Random Sampling
mean = 21.15 standard deviation = 5.67 first quartile = 15.63 median = 20.31 third quartile = 25.00	mean = 20.50 standard deviation = 9.68 first quartile = 15.00 median = 20.00 third quartile = 25.00

Figure 4. Descriptive Statistics and Comparative Boxplots of Class Results for Comparing Simple Random Sampling to Stratified Random Sampling.

Figure 5 Site Layout for Comparing Simple Random Sampling to Systematic Random Sampling.

Figure 6 Site Layout for Comparing Simple Random Sampling to Cluster Random Sampling.

Figure 7. Boxplots for Stratified Random Sampling, with Unequal Sample Sizes from Each Stratum, Versus Simple Random Sampling, Under Site 2.

Table 1. MSE's for 10,000 samples drawn for each of the four sampling techniques for each of Sites 1 through 4.

Type of Sample	Site 1	Site 2	Site 3	Site 4
Simple Random	65.7	65.0	65.0	65.8
Stratified Random (n1 = 10, n2 = 10)	64.8	49.0	64.9	67.3
Cluster Random	89.7	71.5	709.2	0.0
Systematic Random	109.0	281.4	0.0	1639.6

Table 2. Theoretical MSE's for each of the four sampling techniques for each of Sites 1 through 4. The variance formulas follow the notation used in Cochran (1977) and are detailed further in Appendix B.

Type of Sample	Theoretical Variance	Site 1	Site 2	Site 3	Site 4
Simple Random		64.6	64.6	64.6	64.6
Stratified Random (n1 = 10, n2 = 10)		65.3	49.0	65.3	65.3
Cluster Random		88.9	71.1	711.1	0.0
Systematic Random		110.0	280.0	0.0	1600.0

Cochran, W. G. (1977), Sampling Techniques, New York: John Wiley & Sons.

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