It is rarely necessary to use the entire eHRAF World Cultures for comparative studies. As long as a sample is representative of some well-defined universe of cultures, societies, or archaeological traditions, sampling a sub-set saves time and effort.

eHRAF World Cultures contains two samples that can be considered representative:

• Probability Sample Files (PSF)–60 largely preindustrial societies that meet certain data quality controls, one randomly chosen from each culture area. More.
• Simple Random Sample (SRS)–currently 28 societies randomly chosen from a compiled list of over 8 cross-cultural samples. More

Sample and subsistence types in eHRAF’s culture results page

View the Advanced Search section in the Practical Guide to Using eHRAF for how to narrow your search by sample type.

Read the sampling section of the Basic Guide to Cross-Cultural Research for more discussion and suggested readings.

eHRAF Archaeology also has a Simple Random Sample.