REPRESENTATIVE SURVEYS

• is used when it is important to measure the level of

disease accurately (usually the prevalence of the disease
• Example:
1. Planning control programs (P <2%, test and slaughter;
P>=2%, vaccine all herd)
2. Monitoring a vaccination program (immunity >80%,
program success)
3. Monitoring a control program (P decrease, no need
further control; P increase, something goes wrong
during the control program)
 Quick guide
• “30 by 7” design,
• sampling 30 farms or villages and 7 animals in each
farm or village
• 1. Identify the purpose of the survey and the question
that is being asked.
• 2. Identify the population of interest.

village (when animals owned by farm (when animals are separated into
different owners within a village distinct farms)
have relatively close contact with
each other, such as common
grazing)
• 3. Obtain or generate a sampling frame.
Kampung Pemilik Sapi KB/ DB
1 abc 3 4
def 2 5
2 xyz 1 6
3 mno 5 7
… … … …

• 4. Take a random sample of 30 villages or farms,

using the random number table at the end of this
book
• 5. Determine what information or specimens will
be collected. For example, blood samples.
• 6. Set up field teams and train them.

• 7. Organise logistics including survey schedule,

transport, specimen collection, restraint equipment
and laboratory analysis requirements.
• 8. For each field visit, start with a meeting with the
farmer or village livestock owners.
• 9. Build a list of all the animals on the farm, or the
livestock owners and number of animals owned in
the village.
Farm/ village Livestock owner N of animal

• 10. Use this list for random sampling of individual

animals.
• 11. Identify selected animals, restrain and collect
samples.
• 12. Record essential information and store samples
for transport.

• 13. Transport samples to laboratory for testing.

• 14. Enter test results and other field information

into a computer.
• 15. Analyse the data to calculate the prevalence.
Pros
• Measuring the level of disease (prevalence or
incidence) without bias (e.g. when evaluating if a
vaccination program has achieved herd immunity
or not).

Comparing the level of disease between two

geographical areas (e.g. when planning the
establishment of a disease free zone or progressive
disease control program).
Pros
Comparing the level of disease over time (e.g. to
assess progress in a disease control program).
 Comparing the level or impact of different diseases
to determine the priorities of the veterinary
services.
Cons
 Early detection of new disease outbreaks. This is
because the sample size of a survey is limited and
they therefore have poor population coverage.
Early detection requires high population coverage.

 Case finding as part of a disease control program.

Case finding requires high population coverage as well.
Sampling frames
• every unit of interest in the population has the
same chance of being selected.

• Example: A survey is conducted in a large intensive piggery

to estimate the prevalence of pigs with respiratory disease.
The farmer keeps a list of all mature sows and boars, each
identified with an ear tag number, so this list is used as the
sampling frame. Twenty animals are selected using random
numbers from the sampling frame, and these animals are
examined for signs of respiratory disease.
 It is not possible to infer the true prevalence

• the selection bias = the sample is not representative

of the population.
• The sampling frame does not include grower pigs,
only mature breeding pigs. As respiratory problems
are more common in growers than adults, we are
likely to get misleading results, even though we used
random sampling. This is because the sampling frame
was incomplete, and did not include every animal.
 problem can occur
• same units of interest more than once
• one village is listed twice
• two animals with the same ear-tag number,
• two villages with the same name

The ideal sampling frame is therefore a list which:

• contains every unit of interest in the population (no omissions),
• contains every unit of interest only once (no duplications),
• uniquely identifies every unit of interest.
Imperfect sampling frame

• not up-to-date,
• missing a few members of the population,
• missing 20% of the population  find a better
sampling frame.
• no pattern as to which members are missing 
adequate
• small number are missing from the frame (say 5%
or 10% BUT clear pattern that biggest farms are
missing  significant danger of the results being
biased.
 Villa
ge syst
Field operations em

• One village usually has many livestock owner

• Each varying numbers of animals

• close contact, either roaming unrestrained (e.g.

village chickens) or housed or grazing together.

• close contact between animals belonging to

different owners, it is easy for contagious diseases
to spread through the village.
• from the point of view of a disease survey,

• all the animals in the village can be considered

to belong to one large herd, even if they are
owned by many different owners.

• All animals are generally exposed to the same

diseases, and are reared using similar husbandry
techniques.
Building the sampling
frame Village interview
Census Interview
• time consuming • may take a few hours to
complete, but if this is
• it is easy to miss some possible,
animals, but it may be • it is an efficient way to
the best approach in collect information for a
some circumstances sampling frame.
conclusion
• Common survey  two stage sampling

Farm/ village then animal

Task of representative
survey
• Setting up a sampling plan

• Calculate appropriate sample size

• Analyze data ensure no bias.