Strategy for a sampling of the population and the land structure in studies on the use, covering and domestic units of the land

Abstract

This article describes the strategy used in a study carried out in Santarém, State of Pará, Brazil, in 2003, to sample plots represented on maps produced by the Brazilian Government’s Land Reform Department (INCRA). The purpose of this sampling strategy is to describe demographic and environmental changes on the scale of the rural landholdings and on a regional scale. The sample was chosen according to the distribution of plots of land along four different roads that underwent different processes of occupation. Twenty cells of 9km2 each were chosen at random along each road and, in each direction, plots were chosen to be visited. In the field work, persons at all the domestic units existing in each of the plots selected were interviewed. Sampling carried out by successive segmentation of the area of study is described, as well as the way in which the resulting data can be used differently on the scales of domestic units, plots of land, and regions, according to the questions and variables of interest.