Systematic Random Sampling
This method is generally used in such cases where a complete list of the population is available from which sample has to be selected.
Under this method the kth item is picked up from the sample frame and k is the sampling interval which is equal to number in:
K = Size or Number in Universe (N) /Proposed Size for a sample
Thus if 200 item are to be selected from a universe of 2,000 items the k will be 10.Now if the starting number is say 3 the kth numbers will be 13th , 23rd ,43rd,53rd ,etc. As such it is necessary to select the starting point carefully either by drawing a card from a well shuffled pack of cards or by throwing a dice or by taking out a numbers chit from a lot of 1 to 10 numbers etc.
The method although called a systematic random sampling is not necessarily a very scientific method .it is suitable when there is not much dispersion in the l universe. For example if in a housing colony very 10th house is a corner plot which is larger then. The first and if every 10th house is taken starting with 1, it will give a biased selection. Similarly, kth telephone number may have some speciality. Therefore, care should be taken to see that the systematic does not introduce any personal prejudice keeping in view the purpose of the inquiry.