Three Stage Diminishing Sample Size: A Rotating Sampling Procedure for Estimating Seasonal Mono-Crop Yield

Abstract

Rotational sampling procedures are extensively used in national surveys to reduce administrative and respondent burdens and response bias introduced by sampling the same unit in consecutive periods. In this paper, three stage diminishing sample size design is introduced to estimate mono-crop yield made in the same location over consecutive time periods. It is suggested that the approach proposed in this paper reduces administrative and respondent burdens and the response bias. The correlation structure of observations in consecutive time periods is used without sacrificing the precession of estimates in order to reduce the sample size in three consecutive sampling stages. The best com binedestim ate of average mono-crop yield at each consecutive period is. obtained by weighing the independent estimates inversely as their variances. In this paper the complete estimation procedure is presented on the proposed rotation sampling design taking the case of paddy yield estimation which is recommended for estimating the national average production of other seasonal mono-crop yields.