QUESTION NO:1

What is Sampling, Why it’s important, what are different types?

What is sampling?
Sample is a group of people chosen from the population on which the research is
conducted and the results produced by the sample is generalized on the
population, this process is called sampling. Sample is the representative of the
whole population. As we know it’s rarely possible to gather data from one and all
therein group. So, we choose sample. In other words, sample is the group of
people among population who will actually participate in research. For example: if
a journalist want to do a research that how many people are satisfied by the
performance of Government? So, journalist won’t go to each and every person of
Pakistan. As this is not practically possible. He will choose a group of people from
the whole country. So, in this case all the people of Pakistan is a population and
the people selected to do a research among them are called sample.
Importance of sampling:
To do a research, it is not practically possible to ask the whole population to find a
conclusion of the particular research. So, Sampling is the representative part of a
population for the aim of determining, parameters or characteristics of the entire
population. It is very important as it saves time, energy and money. The main and
importance of sampling is this that large population can be conveniently covered.
Types of sampling:
There are two types of sampling.
1) Probability sampling
2) Non-probability sampling
Probability Sampling: Probability sampling is defined as when researcher
chooses sample randomly from the population. In this sampling, researcher
chooses sample on the basis of theory of probability. For example: 1) if we have
a population of 100, each person would have a 1/100 of being chosen. 2) If a dice
is thrown what is the probability that 1 will occur. So, its probability is 1/6.
There are many types of probability sampling. Let’s discuss:

1) Simple random sampling:

It is the simplest type of sampling in which we randomly select sample from the
large population. In this sampling, each member of the population has an equal
chance of being included in the sample. For example: if a researcher wants to
know how many students of Lahore in 10th class are having stress because of
studies. It is not practically possible to visit every school and ask every student.
So, researcher will randomly select a sample of students among these schools.
2) Systematic random sampling:

Selecting the sample with a random starting point but with a fixed periodic
interval is termed as systematic random sampling and this internal is known
as sampling interval. For example: In this sampling, we start from any
random starting point and we select people after same interval of numbers.
Like the example of stress among 10th class students, we will choose every
nth student. If there are 10000 student, and researcher decides to choose
every 10th student. In this case he have to choose 10th, 20th, 30th and so on.

3) Stratified random sampling:

Division of population in to small sub-groups is known as the process of

stratified random sampling. In this sampling, people with shared attributes
and characteristics are selected such as qualification, income or age. For
example: if there are 10000 students , a researcher can make 100 groups
and each group included people with same attributes and characteristics
and then randomly choosing a sample among these groups.

4) Cluster sample sampling: Dividing a population into smaller groups as

clusters and then doing a research is known as cluster sample sampling.
For example: Instead of selecting all the schools of Lahore, if we select
 only 5 schools and do research on them this is known as cluster sample
sampling.

5) Multi-stage sample sampling: This sampling includes two stages, when we

randomly select smaller groups known as clusters and from these cluster,
selecting a random sampling is known as multi-stage sampling. For
example: Choosing 5 schools out of 100 schools to do research that how
many students are in stress because of studies and then from these 5
schools again randomly choosing a sample is the example of multi-stage
sampling.

Now we’ll discuss the types of non-probability sampling.

Non-probability sampling: Choosing a sample deliberately but not

randomly based on your knowledge and experience is termed as non-
probability sampling. There are three main types of non-probability
sampling:

1) Quota sampling: It is the non-probability sampling technique in which

the assembled sample has the same proportion of individuals as the
entire population with respect to known characteristics or traits. For
example: if a researcher wants to know that how many people like I
phone and he consider a sample of 500 respondents. So he will do
sampling according to ratio. 50% males and 50% females which means
250 males and 250 females.

2) Judgmental sampling: Using your own knowledge and past

experience to select a sample is known as judgmental sampling.
It is based on biasedness, due to some frame and population not
being identical. Choosing people we know and deciding
yourself that these people are enough to be a sample is the
concept of judgmental sampling.
3) Convenience sampling: Choosing a sample which is readily
available rather than going outside and choosing a sample
among them is known as convenience sampling. But this
sampling, can also lead to a big error.

4) Snowball sampling: Recruiting participants via other participants is

known as snowball sampling. When population is hard to access we use
snowball sampling.