🚀 go-pugleaf

Can anyone help me with the problem of
assigning a "goodness" grade to a given sample
of a population, for example based on one
or more of the following:
the error of the estimated parameter (mean/median), 
the variance of the sample (as compared with the
variance of the parent population?), and 
taking into account the sample size (so that,
ceterus paribus, smaller samples get better grades?)

i have Cochran but i can't find any universal
measure (right, there probably isn't any).  
i know there are standard formulas for variances 
of means of normal populations, for example, 
but i have a fairly bizarre parent population, 
and i want to assign ranks to 20 samples (taken
with different methods and different
sampling fractions).    
(i want to use the term "efficiency", 
but i assume someone else has defined this
and i'm just not reading the right books.
if so, i wouldn't mind knowing.  One of my
books mentions 'Gaussian efficiency' in passing
but doesn't define it.  argh.)

email appreciated -- i'll summarize if desired,
thanks much,
k