Questions
1. What do you learn from the above experiment?
This experiment involves learning about how sampling works. The key to any sample program is to obtain a representative sample. Sampling is the process by which organisms in small areas can be counted, or quantified, to estimate abundance over a larger area . The small areas, or samples, must be representative of the larger area for these estimates to be accurate. The more we sample, the more accurately we will be able to describe the larger area. For instance, a container may have many different types of beans. If we only sample it once, our sample may not get all of the kind of beans. But, if we sampled the beans many times, we would likely get a variety of beans in our sample. As more samples are added to the table, students will be able to see that many individual samples do not reflect the proportion of the container very well. But when all the samples are averaged together, the proportion of the beans in the container is evened out. Thus the more we sample, the more accurate our data. Quartering is a method used to reduce the number of sample without creating a systematic bias. The mixed beans are then divided into 4 portions; the two opposite portions then are transferred into two different containers. The same process is continued until an appropriate sample size remains. Analyses are made with respect to the sample left behind. There are some other things that could cause bias in our samples. For example, if a student accidentally got too few or too many when sampling the container. In all studies of food composition data, sampling of foods for analysis, and their subsequent preparation prior to analysis, are critical steps in the production of good quality and useful food composition data. Before any samples of food are purchased for a food composition program, a sampling plan should be