Population

In research terminology Population can be explained as a comprehensive group

of individuals, institutions, objects and so on by having general characteristics
that are of interest to the researcher. The general characteristics of groups
distinguish them from other individuals, institutions, objects and so on. The
term universe is also used as a synonym with population. Suppose a researcher
proposes to conduct a study on the awareness and use of ICT among secondary
school teachers in the city of Padang, the entire secondary school teaching
community in Padang is the research population. So, In statistics, the
population is the whole group for which some information must be
ascertained. In selecting populations to study, research questions or research
objectives will suggest appropriate population definitions to be studied, in
terms of location and boundaries for specific age groups, sex or occupation.
The population must be fully determined so that those who will be included
and excluded are clearly spelled out. For example, if we say that our study
population are all teachers in the city of Padang. we must state whether the
teacher is among those who have retired, worked part time, or not practiced,
or those who have left the city but are still registered in Padang.
Sometimes the population can be calculated easily, which is called a limited
population. The population of medical students is an example of a limited
population. An unlimited or unknown population can be called an unlimited
population. Teenagers, youth in the city of Padang can be treated as examples
for an unlimited population, although they can be counted but in complex
procedures. Any value that is identified or measured from the characteristics of
the entire population can be called a parameter. The process of conducting a
survey to collect data from an entire population is called a census.

POPULATION IN DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES

In descriptive research, it is customary to define the study population and then
make observations on samples taken from it. The study population can be
determined by geographical location, age, gender, with additional definitions of
attributes and variables such as occupation, religion and ethnic groups.
POPULATION IN ANALYTIC STUDIES
Case control study
In contrast to descriptive studies where the study population is defined and then
observations are made on a representative sample of that population, in the case
of a control study, observations are made on a group of patients. This is known
as a study group, which is usually not chosen by sampling from a larger group.
For example, a study in bipolar disorder patients could include every patient
with this disorder attending psychiatric OPD during the study
period.Case-control studies are often done in hospitals because this group is
more convenient and accessible than cases in the wider community. However,
the two groups of cases may differ in many ways. At the beginning of the study,
it must be considered whether these differences will affect the external validity
(generalization) of the study.

SAMPLE
Samples are part of a fully defined population.To make accurate conclusions,
the sample must be representative. A representative sample is a sample in
which each member of the population has the same opportunity to be
elected. So sample can be defined as the small portion of a population
selected for a particular study. The sample should clearly represent the
characteristics of intended group. According to Young “A statistical sample is
a miniature picture of cross selection of the entire group or aggregate from
which the sample is taken”. The process of conducting a survey to collect
data from a sample is called sample survey. The value which is identified or
measured from the characteristics of the sample can be termed as statistic.
Sample size
Inputs required for sample size calculation have been dealt from a clinical
researcher's perspective avoiding the use of intimidating formulae and
statistical jargon in an earlier issue of the journal.

Sampling
The process of selecting or depicting an accurate representation of a unit, group
or sample of an interesting population is called sampling. Sampling can be done
through various sampling techniques in accordance with the nature of the
sample and research subjects. This is a Sampling procedure, which will
determine the accurate representation of the sample selected for research as well
as the relevance of generalizations made from the study.

Sampling Unit
Each individual or case that is a sample is called a sampling unit or sampling
element. For example if the sample consists of 200 teachers, each teacher in the
sample is considered a sampling unit.

Sampling Frame
The sampling frame is a list of subjects / people studied, such as households,
students, teachers, school principals and so on. The list must be comprehensive
and up to date. For example, the telephone book, the student database of the
school's education department, the list of principals from the official website of
the care department and so on.

Sample size
As the name indicates the sample size is the total number of samples chosen for
the study. For example, the number of teachers, students, or stakeholders of
researchers who are intended to gather information about their research
questions. There is no idea about the minimum or maximum number of
samples; instead the sample size must be optimal. Usually the sample size is
represented by letters

Sampling Error
The variation between sample group averages and population averages is called
sampling error. That can be understood through the following example. A
researcher plans to conduct a study of the Emotional Intelligence of secondary
school students in Telungana state. Obviously the researcher must choose an
accurate representation or optimal sample from the large population of his
study. Suppose the researcher has selected ten groups or a sample each
 consisting of 200 students from the same population. He gave his research tools
in each sample, collected data, organized, scored and found the average scores
of each group. Finally he could see that each group showed differences in their
average scores with other groups or samples as well as with the population
average. This is because; a random sample will not be an identical
representation of a population. Some will be relatively high, some relatively
low, but most tend to be clustered around the population average. This variation
in sample mean is caused by sampling error. This term does not indicate an error
in the sampling process, but only describes the inevitable variation in
opportunities when a number of randomly chosen sample ways are counted.
Therefore the variation between the sample mean and the population average is
called sampling error.

Sampling Techniques
Sample can be selected through different methods. Blalock (1960) classified
the sampling methods in to two categories on the basis of the nature of selection
of the sample units. They are given below.

I) Non-Random sampling techniques (Non- Probability Sampling)

II) Random sampling techniques (Probability Sampling)

A. Non-Random sampling techniques (Non- Probability Sampling)

Non random sampling techniques are the techniques in which the researchers
select the samples from the population without randomization. Here the
samples might have selected at the discretion of the researcher. In this sampling
there is no means of judging the probability of the element or group of elements,
of population being included in the sample.

I) Convenience
Sampling When the researcher selects sample for the study at his own
convenience is called as convenience sampling. For example an investigator
who is doing research on the topic of social skills of adolescence and he may
take students of X class as sample for his study, because he has been the class
teacher of the same class and happens to be friendly with the class. This is what
is called as convenience sampling.
II) Quota Sampling
In this sampling the investigator initially sets some relevant categories of
people and decides the number of units should be selected for the study as a
sample
III) Purposive Sampling
It is also known as judgment sampling. It is valuable in special circumstances.
Judgment sampling is used in exploratory research or in field research. The
researcher may exercise his own judgment or uses the judgment of an expert in
selecting cases. In purposive sampling the researcher never knows whether the
cases, selected represent the population. Purposive sampling is suitable to select
unique cases when the researcher knew that they might be providing relevant
and valuable information that he or she requires.
IV) Snowball Sampling
It is a sociometric sampling method and also known as network, chain referral
or reputation sampling method. In this method the researcher starts collection of
data from the person who known to the researcher. At the end of the data
collection the respondent will be asked to provide the contact information of
another respondent who can give relevant information regarding this area of the
study. Snow ball sampling is more useful when there are small possibilities to
get the information regarding the population or the population is unknown.

B. Random sampling technique (probability sampling)

The random sampling method is a method that ensures the probability of each
element in the population to be selected as a sample unit for research. Here the
sample unit is not chosen at the discretion of the researcher but follows certain
procedures which ensure the probability of each unit in population 6 being
included in the sample. Therefore this method is also called the Probability
sampling method. Random sampling is free from bias in choosing a sampling
unit.
I) Simple random sample
This is the simplest form of random sampling. In this sampling technique, each
element of the population might have provided the same opportunity to be
chosen for this research. Randomness depends entirely on the procedure of
selecting a sample unit of the population.
II) Stratified random sampling technique
When the researcher needs stratification of population based on single
characteristics or attributes such as male and female, urban and rural, married
and unmarried and so forth he/ she warranted the stratified random sampling
technique. Here the population is divided in to two or more strata. For example,
if researcher want to study the emotional intelligence of graduate students. He
can stratify the population in to three such as science graduate, social science
graduate, commerce graduate. These categorized populations are called
subpopulations. The usual stratification factors are age, sex, socio economic
status, educational qualifications, locale, occupation, religion, cast, intelligence
and so forth.
III) Cluster Sampling Cluster sampling
is a simple random sampling variation. This is used when the study population
is unlimited and population units are spread over a large geographical area. For
example, the Indian government wants to do a survey of community attitudes
towards the Swar Bharath program.

IV) Systematic Sampling

Systematic sampling can be defined as selecting or drawing each item or person
from a predetermined list. Like the election of the 10th person from the
telephone directory or the 6th person from the college admissions list. For
example if a sample of 250 is chosen from a telephone directory with 2,00,000
listings, people will choose a first name randomly from a randomly selected
page. Then each 987 name will be selected until a sample of 250 is chosen. If
the final page is reached before completing the proposed sample size, counting
will continue from the first page of the directory until completing the intended
sample size.