Systematic Sampling

Systematic sampling is a probability sampling technique in which every k-th element is selected from an ordered list of the population after a random starting point. With population size N and desired sample size n, the sampling interval k = N/n is computed and one unit is chosen at random from the first interval; all subsequent units are selected by adding k repeatedly. The method is operationally simple, yields a spread-out sample, and often achieves lower variance than simple random sampling when the list has no harmful periodicity.