ABSTRACT
Work sampling: background. The technique now called work sampling originated with L.H.C. Tippett, an English statistician, who applied what he called "a snapreading method" to employees and machines in the English textile industry during the 1930s. The method required an observer to tour the factory at random intervals. The purpose was to estimate the percent of machine down time and its causes, the percentage distribution of work activities, and the percentage of time spent on various products. Tippett pointed out some major advantages which are still true: it costs less than 100 percent production records, it eliminates stop watches and, hence, is more acceptable to workers, the data are more accurate, and major sources of variation can be measured. To obtain these advantages, certain conditions have to be met. 1
In this count~ Morrow applied Tippett's method to a number of industries and came to about the same conclusions. He called the method Hratio delay study; II because it could be used to estimate delay time as well as the percentage of time employees and machines were or were not working. He noted that the observations should be distributed over all hours of the day and week, and that the results could be used to evaluate departmental operations.2
