The Incorporation of Small Contract Projects into a Regional Sampling Design

Abstract

This paper evaluates the research potential of small contract surveys conducted in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. It is argued that if the data produced by small project surveys are to be used to answer regional questions, it is necessary to treat each small survey as a sample unit within a region and to synthesize the data from several such surveys. Statistical techniques are employed to determine the representativeness of the greater Phoenix small survey sample. Preliminary archaeological results of the surveys conducted within the Phoenix area are presented and guidelines for the conduct of future surveys are suggested.

Cultural resource management and American archaeology

“…King's t987 chapter in an obscure (to most archaeologists) book on historic preservation is an especially thorough review of the development and late-1980s status of CRM archaeology. Discussions from the 1980s on issues of research designs, standards and quality, costs and effectiveness, availability of collections and reports, and conservation strategies are of continued relevance in the 1990s (e.g., Brose, 1985;Carnes et al, 1986; GAO, 1981GAO, , 1987Marquardt et al, 1982;Powell and Rice, 1981;Schmidt, 1984;Simon, 1988).Several useful regional compilations of CRM archaeology were written in the 1980s. Osborn and Hassler (1987) compiled 17 papers on the impact of CRM archaeology on the Great Plains, where, in some states, CRM work constituted practically the only active research (e.g., Zimmerman, 1987).…”