Table Of ContentSAMPLING THEORY
OF SURVEYS
WITH APPLICATIONS
&
P. V. SUKHATME B. V. SUKHATME
SAMPLING THEORY OF SURVEYS
WITH APPLICATIONS
Other Books
Feeding India's Growing Millions
V.
BY P. SUKHATME
Statistical Methods for Agricultural Workers
V. G. V.
BY PANSE AND P. SUKHATME
SAMPLING THEORY OF SURVEYS
WITH APPLICATIONS
PANDURANG V. SUKHATME, Ph.D.,D.Sc.
Director, Statistics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Formerly Statistical Adviser, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
AND
BALKRISHNA V. SUKHATME, Ph.D.
Professor of Statistics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, and
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
AMES, IOWA, U.S.A.
© 1954 by the Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics, New Delhi, India,
and the Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa, U.S.A.
© 1970 by Pandurang V. Sukhatme and Balkrishna V. Sukhatme. All rights reserved.
Printed in the U.S.A.
First Edition, 1954
Second Printing, 1958
Third Printing, 1960
Second, Revised Edition, 1970
Spanish Translation: Teoria de Encuestas por Muestreo con Aplicaciones
International Standard Book Number: 0-8138-1370-0
FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION
The first edition of the book was issued 15 years ago when I was Director
of the Economics Division of FAO and the author, Dr. P. V. Sukhatme,
headed the Statistics Branch in my Division. I recall going with Dr.
Sukhatme to the late Norris E. Dodd, then Director-General of FAO,
and requesting him to write the foreword that appeared in the first
edition. This memory has inevitably come to my mind now that Dr.
Sukhatme has asked me. within so short a period of my assuming charge
as Director-General of FAO, to write a foreword to the second edition
of this book. I do so with great pleasure.
Among the major tasks of the FAO is the promotion of the improve¬
ment of national systems for collecting agricultural statistics. The pro¬
gramme of work of FAO, as approved by the Conference in 1952, speci¬
fically recommended the promotion of the use of sampling as a major
means of achieving this task. This programme, among other measures,
included the preparation of a series of publications on the theory and
practice of sampling surveys. Dr. Sukhatme’s book was the first in this
series.
This is not the place to elaborate on the work done by FAO in the
field of sampling. Suffice it to say that there is hardly any country in the
world today which does not use sampling in one form or another for
collecting and reporting national statistics. The widespread use of sampl¬
ing is best illustrated with reference to decennial censuses of agriculture.
Whereas less than a quarter of the developing countries participating in
the 1950 World Census of Agriculture made use of sampling in carry¬
ing out their agricultural censuses, this proportion increased to three-
fifths in the 1960 World Census of Agriculture. For the 1970 World
Census of Agriculture, which FAO is currently engaged in promoting,
most of the developing countries have indicated that they plan to use
sampling in their censuses of agriculture.
FAO has a large number of field experts in different countries of the
world whose job is to assist those countries in developing the use of sampl¬
ing for improving agricultural statistics and in the training of local person¬
nel in the use of sampling methods. Likewise, FAO has a large training
programme in the theory and practice of sampling methods for the collec¬
tion of national statistics. For the 1970 World Census of Agriculture alone,
FAO has organized, or is in the process of organizing, some 20 training
centres at the national, regional and international levels. Dr. Sukhatme s
FOREWORD
VI
book has been extensively used in this programme of work. The years
since the publication of the first edition have seen a considerable advance
in the theory and practice of sampling. I have particularly in mind here
the vast experience accumulated by FAO in the application of sampling
methods under widely different field conditions. The publication of the
second edition of the book, which incorporates the latest advances in the
use of sampling, which summarizes the experience accumulated by
FAO and which also comes at a time when FAO is promoting the 1970
World Census of Agriculture, is therefore most timely, and will, I feel
sure, be welcomed by all.
The need for reliable and comprehensive statistics was never more
acutely felt than at present, when most countries are engaged in large-
scale planning. Statistics, however, take time to develop and require a
great deal of effort and money which are not always easy to find. While
planning cannot await the full development of statistics, there can be no
sound planning without reliable statistics. The merit of sampling lies in
providing an economic and efficient method for collection of data and
thus accelerating the development of statistics urgently needed by
planners. It is my hope that this book will make a significant contribution
to the realization of this objective.
A. H. Boerma
Director-General
Food and Agriculture Organization
