Acceptance Sampling

Acceptance sampling is a statistical quality control method in which a random sample is taken from a lot and the sample information is used to accept or reject the lot. It sits between no inspection and 100% inspection and is commonly applied to attribute (go/no-go) inspection. Its purpose is to decide whether the lot is likely acceptable, not to estimate the quality of the lot.

Source checked2/2 values · 2026-10-25Methodology

Specification

1 source

Kind	methodology
Origin	Dodge and Romig; U.S. military during World War II

Study notes

Acceptance sampling was popularized by Dodge and Romig and originally applied by the U.S. military to bullet testing during World War II.
A sample is picked at random from the lot, and the decision is generally to accept or reject the lot.
The two major classifications of acceptance plans are by attributes (go/no-go) and by variables; the attribute case is assumed in the document.
Acceptance sampling is employed when testing is destructive, the cost of 100% inspection is very high, or 100% inspection takes too long.
Acceptance Quality Control is not the same as Acceptance Sampling; Acceptance Quality Control may be implemented as an Acceptance Control Chart.
ISO 7966 (1993) describes an acceptance control chart as combining control implications with elements of acceptance sampling for process acceptance decisions.
Harold Dodge stated in 1942 that acceptance quality control protects the consumer from unacceptable defective product and encourages producer process quality control.