Fixed-random mixture method for work sampling.: An article from: IIE Transactions

This digital document is an article from IIE Transactions, published by Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE) on September 1, 1996. The length of the article is 5836 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: This paper presents an approach to work sampling involving a mixture of fixed and random sampling. Fixed-interval sampling is more efficient in terms of providing more precise information for the same number of observations. Random sampling avoids the possibilities of sampling times being anticipated and the sampling schedule coinciding with some rhythm in the sampled process. Using a mixture of fixed and random sampling provides a smooth transition from fixed to random sampling and allows the practitioner to select a mixture level appropriate for his or her purposes. The efficiency of the mixture sampling method is analyzed by using an alternating Poisson process model for the sampled process. The mixture sampling method eliminates the observation-free period after every observation that was provided by the previously proposed delayed-sampling method. Although the mixture sampling method is slightly less efficient than the delayed-sampling method, its advantage is clear when anticipation of observation times is a concern, and it is always more efficient than random sampling.

Citation Details
Title: Fixed-random mixture method for work sampling.
Author: Pen-Yuan Liao
Publication:IIE Transactions (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1996
Publisher: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
Volume: v28 Issue: n9 Page: p713(9)

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