A PhD botanist friend at the university who has done pollen analysis (& worked a bit with non-Apis bee species) says this in answer to question:

"As we discussed before, it isn’t rocket science – you need to get a reference collection (do a survey of what species are flowering when you take the pollen sample from the bee) – and then somehow collect the pollen from bees. We do that by taking pollen from the bee itself (I see that one of the people on the BBS says he uses dead bees and/or cardboard inserted in the bottom of the hive), to get an idea of what flowers the bee has been visiting.
 
Then you compare them – knowing what is blooming at the time you take the bee pollen sample will narrow things down for you. And of course you’d have to do this several times during the flight season bc they change what they forage on based on what’s blooming. It’s also good to take pics of the bees foraging on the flowers. This will also help ID what species are being used.
 
Yes I do think that [non-experts] can…do it. Knowing what the bees are foraging on can help farmers enhance pollination – and for the beekeepers, it would at least let you know what you should plant for them, especially at the beginning and end of the season to help with survival and reproduction. Based on my observation around St. John’s [Newfoundland], honey bees use a lot of early flowering cultivated plants such as crocus and heathers, so if people have flower gardens they can enhance those key early species, as well as the wild plants.
 
As for most beekeepers, I don’t think [they] would pursue this bc of the effort. But really once you do it you can advise them! Plant diversity is pretty low in Newfoundland! Observation is a mighty tool to see what flowers they are using and when."

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