SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION

OF THE SAMPLE MEAN

At the end of the lesson, students will
be able to:
1. discuss the concepts relative to
sampling distribution of the sample
means;
2. find the probability of the sample
means; and
3. construct probability histogram of
the sampling distribution of the
sample means.
 In a class of 50 students, a researcher randomly
selects 20 students to be the members of a sample.
The researcher computes the mean weight of the
sample and compared it with the mean weight of
the whole class. Is the sample mean (𝑥) equal to
the population mean (𝜇)?
 The researcher randomly selects another 20
students to be the members of another sample
different from the previous one. He computed the
mean weight of the second sample. Are the two
sample means equal to each other?
ANSWER:
The sample means are not equal to the
population mean. However, we expect their values
to be close to each other. Similarly, the means of
the two sample sets are not equal to each other,
but we expect their values to be close to each
other, too.
 SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF A SAMPLE
STATISTIC is the distribution of values for a
sample statistic obtained from repeated
samples of the same size drawn from the
same population.
sample statistics → sample means
population parameter → population mean
A sampling distribution is created using sampling
method, particularly random sampling. There are
two ways of creating a sampling distribution.
1. Draw samples of the same size from a
population and compute sample statistics.
Use descriptive method to learn more about
sampling distribution.
2. Relies on the rules of probability, the
expected values, and the variance to derive
the sampling distribution.
 GETTING POPULATION PARAMETERS

𝜇 = ෍ 𝑥𝑃(𝑥)

where:
𝜇 = population mean
𝑥 = random variable
𝑃(𝑥) = probability of the random variable
 GETTING POPULATION PARAMETERS

2 2
𝜎 = ෍(𝑥 − 𝜇) 𝑃(𝑥)

where:
𝜎 2 = population variance
𝜇 = population mean
𝑥 = random variable
𝑃(𝑥) = probability of the random variable
 GETTING POPULATION PARAMETERS

𝜎= 𝜎 2

where:
𝜎 = population standard deviation
2
𝜎 = population variance
 GETTING POPULATION PARAMETERS

Example:
Let 𝑋 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Compute the following:
a. population mean
b. population variance
c. population standard deviation
SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE SAMPLE MEAN (𝒙)

Let 𝑋 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Show the sampling distribution

of the sample mean with two members.

Solution:
Find the total number of possible samples with two
members. Use the 𝑛𝐶𝑟 button of your calculator where 𝑛 is
the total number of the population and 𝑟 is the sample size.
 SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE SAMPLE MEAN (𝒙)
Sample (n=2) Sample Mean (𝒙)
𝑛𝐶𝑟 = 6𝐶2 = 15 1, 2
1, 3
1.5
2.0

Frequency Distribution: 1, 4 2.5

1, 5 3.0
Sample Mean (𝒙) 𝒇
1, 6 3.5
1.5 1
2, 3 2.5
2.0 1
2, 4 3.0
2.5 2
2, 5 3.5
3.0 2
3.5 3 2, 6 4.0

4.0 2 3, 4 3.5

4.5 2 3, 5 4.0

5.0 1 3, 6 4.5
5.5 1 4, 5 4.5
4, 6 5.0
෍ 𝑓 = 15
5, 6 5.5
Sample Mean (𝒙) 𝑷(𝒙)
1
1.5 ≈ 0.07
15
1
2.0 ≈ 0.07
15
2
2.5 ≈ 0.13
15
2
3.0 ≈ 0.13
15
3
3.5 = 0.20
15
2
4.0 ≈ 0.13
15
2
4.5 ≈ 0.13
15
1
5.0 ≈ 0.07
15
1
5.5 ≈ 0.07
15
15
෍ 𝑃(𝑥) = = 1.00
15
 Probability Histogram of the Sampling Distribution of
the Sample Mean for n = 2
0.25

0.2
0.2
Probability

0.15 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13

0.1
0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07

0.05

0
1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5
Mean
MEAN OF THE SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE
SAMPLE MEANS (𝒙)

𝜇𝑥 = ෍(𝑥)𝑃(𝑥)
where:
𝜇 = population mean
𝑥 = sample mean
𝑃(𝑥) = probability of the mean
 MEAN OF THE SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE
SAMPLE MEANS (𝒙)

Example:
Find the mean of the sampling distribution of the
sample means of the scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 using 𝑛 = 2
without replacement.
Solution:
(𝒙) 𝑷(𝒙) (𝒙)𝑷(𝒙)
1 1.5
1.5
15 15
1 2
2.0
15 15
2 5
2.5
15 15
2 6
3.0
15 15
3 10.5
3.5
15 15
2 8
4.0
15 15
2 9
4.5
15 15
1 5
5.0
15 15
1 5.5
5.5
15 15
 Solution:
1.5 2 5 6 10.5 8 9 5 5.5
𝜇𝑥 = + + + + + + + +
15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
52.5
𝜇𝑥 = = 3.5
15

Answer:
The mean of the sampling distribution of the sample
means is 3.5.
VARIANCE OF THE SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE
SAMPLE MEANS (𝒙)

2 2
𝜎 𝑥 = ෍(𝑥 − 𝜇𝑥 ) 𝑃(𝑥)
where:
2
𝜎 = population variance
𝜇 = population mean
𝑥 = sample mean
𝑃(𝑥) = probability of the mean
VARIANCE OF THE SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE
SAMPLE MEANS (𝒙)

Example:
Find the variance of the sampling distribution of the
sample means of the scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 using 𝑛 = 2
without replacement.
Solution:
(𝒙) 𝑷(𝒙) (𝒙 − 𝝁𝒙 )𝟐 (𝒙 − 𝝁𝒙 )𝟐 𝑷(𝒙)
1 4
1.5 (1.5 − 3.5)2 = 4
15 15
1 2.25
2.0 (2.0 − 3.5)2 = 2.25
15 15
2 2
2.5 (2.5 − 3.5)2 = 1
15 15
2 0.5
3.0 (3.0 − 3.5)2 = 0.25
15 15
3
3.5 (3.5 − 3.5)2 = 0 0
15
2 0.5
4.0 (4.0 − 3.5)2 = 0.25
15 15
2 2
4.5 (4.5 − 3.5)2 = 1
15 15
1 2.25
5.0 (5.0 − 3.5)2 = 2.25
15 15
1 4
5.5 (5.5 − 3.5)2 = 4
15 15
 Solution:
4 2.25 2 0.5 0.5 2 2.25 4
𝜎 2𝑥 = + + + +0+ + + +
15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
2
17.5
𝜎 𝑥 = ≈ 1.17
15

Answer:
The variance of the sampling distribution of the sample
means is approximately 1.17.
STANDARD DEVIATION OF THE SAMPLING
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SAMPLE MEANS (𝒙)

𝜎𝑥 = 𝜎 2
𝑥
 STANDARD DEVIATION OF THE SAMPLING
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SAMPLE MEANS (𝒙)

Example:
Find the standard deviation of the sampling distribution
of the sample means of the scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 using
𝑛 = 2 without replacement.
Solution:
𝜎𝑥 = 1.17

𝜎𝑥 ≈ 1.08

Answer:
The standard deviation of the sampling distribution of
the sample means is approximately 1.08.