Greg,
Only if your sample is random and independent. The existing mechanism tries
fairly hard to ensure that every record has an equal chance of being selected.
If you read the entire block and not appropriate samples then you'll introduce
systematic sampling errors. For example, if you read an entire block you'll be
biasing towards smaller records.
Did you read any of the papers on block-based sampling? These sorts of
issues are specifically addressed in the algorithms.
--Josh
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