ABSTRACT
In your effort to collect data, no matter what the subject or discipline, you will find that in a vast majority of situations it is either imprudent if not impossible to collect a census of the entire data set. A census is when every eligible person or product has corresponding data. If the objective was to survey your customers about their satisfaction with your products and/or services, a census would mean every single customer would have to be surveyed. If the objective is quality assurance it would mean that each and every home is inspected for every possible defect. The cost of such measures can become staggering to say the least. Fortunately, there is a way to reduce the cost and effort required without substantially sacrificing the quality of the data gathered. The technique is called sampling. This chapter will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of some common sampling procedures being applied throughout business and industry, and that includes residential construction industry.
