Aquatic Resource Monitoring - Specific Design Information

The survey design is a plan for selecting the sample appropriately so that it provides valid data for developing accurate estimates for the entire population or area of interest.  Planning and executing a sample survey involves:

(1) Establish the monitoring objectives

• clearly, precisely stated and understood
• identify resource of interest
• establish study region + sub-regions of interest
• Identify Desired Results (Estimates)

(2) Identify Resource Characteristics

• establish resource type
• describe general distribution within region
• Identify areas or sub-regions characteristics that influence resource distribution
• Identify resource attributes associated with study priorities (e.g., size, order, class, etc.)

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(3) Identify Institutional constraints requiring consideration

• study participants and their roles
• fiscal, logistical and temporal resources/limits
• identity of information sources
• consistency and support requirements (e.g., survey crews, data forms, information management, etc.)

(4) Defining the target population,

(5) Options for Watershed Definitions

(6) Specifying Subpopulations, Domains and Stratification

(7) Creating a sampling frame for all units of the target population from which to select the sample,

(8) Developing a survey design for the selection of sample of units from this list,

(9) Strategies for a allocation of sampling efforts in space and time

(10) Establishing sample size

(11) Relationships among Target Population, Sample Frame, Samples, Sampled Population, Estimates, and Assumptions

(12) Response designs, index periods, and collecting data from the selected units,

(13) Summarizing and reporting the data with statistical analysis procedures appropriate for the survey design