Name:

Metric #:
Mastery Test Sample Size
A researcher wishes to estimate the percentage of secondary teachers in Malaysia who have
completed an in-service education course during the past 2 years on the use of computers. The
researcher is willing to accept an estimate that is within 3% of the actual percentage. The researcher
agrees to take a chance of 1 in 20 of getting a bad sample.
1.

The degree of precision (margin of error) desired in the estimate is _____.

2.

The risk the researcher is willing to take that the actual error exceeds the desired margin of
error is _____.

3.

What other estimate must the researcher make before the sample size can be determined?
__________________________________________________

4.

If the acceptable margin of error were 5% (assume other factors influencing sample size
remain unchanged), the size of sample required would be (smaller)/(the same as)/(larger)
than that indicated in the example.

5.

If the researcher decided to change the risk to 1 in 100 of getting a bad sample (assume other
factors influencing sample size remain unchanged), the size of sample required would be
(smaller)/(the same as)/(larger) than that indicated in the example.

6.

Assume a researcher wanted to conduct a survey research study to determine the

percentage of teachers who were competent in computer utilization. The researchers guess
is that about 30% will have a level of skills which could be labelled as competent. He wants
his estimate to be within 4% of population parameters, and he is willing to take a 5% risk of
getting a bad sample. What is the initial estimate of how many subjects should be in the
sample (before any population adjustment)? __________

7.

Assume the above researcher developed a sampling frame for his accessible population of
2,000 teachers. How many of the 2,000 should be sampled, based on the information in
Question 6? __________

8.

Another researcher wanted to conduct a correlational study to predict the job satisfaction of
university faculty at The Ohio State University. Assume there are 5,000 faculty members in
the accessible population. A job satisfaction instrument was developed. In the pilot test of the
instrument, the data showed a mean job satisfaction score of 3.8 with a standard deviation
of .70. The researcher wants to be 95% confident of having an job satisfaction estimate that is
within .2 of the population value. How many subjects (before population size correction) are
needed? __________