Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2016
In design-based stereology, fixed parameters (such as volume, surface area, curve length, feature number, connectivity) of a non-random geometrical object are estimated by intersecting the object with randomly located and oriented geometrical probes (e.g. test slabs, planes, lines, points). Estimation accuracy may in principle be increased by increasing the number of probes, which are usually laid in a systematic pattern. An important prerequisite to increase accuracy, however, is that the relevant estimators are unbiased and consistent. The purpose of this paper is therefore to give sufficient conditions for the unbiasedness and strong consistency of design-based stereological estimators obtained by systematic sampling. Relevant mechanisms to increase sample size, compatible with stereological practice, are considered.
Work supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Grant #31-28610.90, Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica Grant #PB94-1058 and Fundació Caixa Castelló Grant #P1A-94-24.