User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Haphazard Sampling of an Area
Percent error of 2 most common: Red Maple 1.5%, White oak 7% (percent error is [(E-T)/T]*100
Percent error of 2 least common: White Ash 100%, Yellow Birch 100%
Sampling time: 24 hours 13 minutes
Random Sampling of an area
Percent error of 2 most common: Red Maple 9%, White Oak 1.3%
Percent error of 2 least common: White Ash 100%, Yellow Birch 662.5%
Sampling time: 26 hours 1 minute
Systematic Sampling of an Area
Percent error of 2 most common: Red Maple 1%, White oak 5%
Percent error of 2 least common: White ash 150%, Yellow Birch 100%
Sampling time: 26 hours 40 minutes
Haphazard has the least amount of time which is surprising considering there is not necessarily a technique used to save time due to how irregular it can be. This may be a certain instance where it took less time to complete a sample. The least abundant species have the worst percent error, which makes sense as there are less to find in an area and can easily be missed in a study. The most abundant species have the lowest percent area, because there are enough of them to create a more accurate set of data. The lowest overall percent error would be in Systematic Sampling which could be explained by the fact that entire sections may not be missed as they would be in random or haphazard. Different gradients are more likely to be covered with a systematic sample.
