Sampling Design

Population, Target Population, and Samples

• A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions
about.
• The full set of cases or elements from which a sample is taken is called
the population.
• For research to discover the level of service at Indian restaurants
throughout a country, the population from which you would select
your sample would be all Indian restaurants in that country.
The need to sample:
• For some research questions, it is possible to collect data from an
entire population as it is of a manageable size.
• Sampling provides a valid alternative to a census when:
• It would be impracticable for you to survey the entire
population;
• Your budget constraints prevent you from surveying the entire
population;
• Your time constraints prevent you from surveying the entire
population
Target Population
• This name indicates it is this population that is the actual focus or
target of the research inquiry.
• For example, rather than defining your population as all owners of a
particular brand of tablet computers, you may redefine your target
population as all owners of a particular brand of tablet who are
studying for a business and management degree at one university.
The Sampling
Process
Determining the sampling frame
• A sampling frame is a representation of the elements of the target
population.
• It consists of a list or set of directions for identifying the target
population.
• Examples of a sampling frame include the telephone book, an
association directory listing the firms in an industry, a mailing list
purchased from a commercial organization, a city directory, or a
map.
• If your research question or objective is concerned with members of a
student society, your sampling frame will be the complete
membership list for that society.
A Classification of the Sampling Techniques
• Sampling techniques may be broadly classified as nonprobability and
probability.
• Nonprobability sampling relies on the personal judgment of the
researcher rather than chance to select sample elements.
• The researcher can arbitrarily or consciously decide what elements to
include in the sample.
• Nonprobability samples may yield good estimates of the population
characteristics.
• However, they do not allow for objective evaluation of the precision of
the sample results.
A Classification of the Sampling Techniques
• In probability sampling, sampling units are selected by chance.
• It is possible to prespecify every potential sample of a given size that
could be drawn from the population, as well as the probability of
selecting each sample.
• This requires not only a precise definition of the target population, but
also a general specification of the sampling frame.
• Because sample elements are selected by chance, it is possible to
determine the precision of the sample estimates of the characteristics
of interest.
Non-Probability Sampling
1) Convenience Sampling:
• Also called availability sampling.
• Attempts to obtain a sample of convenient elements.
• The selection of sampling units is left primarily to the interviewer.
Often, respondents are selected because they happen to be in the right
place at the right time.
• Examples of convenience sampling include (1) use of students, church
groups, and members of social organizations, (2) mall-intercept
interviews without qualifying the respondents, and (3) “people on the
street” interviews.
Non-Probability Sampling
Purposive or Judgmental Sampling
• Judgmental sampling is a form of convenience sampling in which
the population elements are selected based on the judgment of the
researcher.
• The researcher, exercising judgment or expertise, chooses the elements
to be included in the sample, because he or she believes that they are
representative of the population of interest or are otherwise
appropriate.
• Common examples of judgmental sampling include (1) test markets
selected to determine the potential of a new product, (2) purchase
engineers selected in industrial marketing research because they are
considered to be representative of the company.
Non-Probability Sampling
Quota Sampling
• Viewed as two-stage restricted judgmental sampling
• The first stage consists of developing control categories, or quotas,
of population elements.
• To develop these quotas, the researcher lists relevant control
characteristics and determines the distribution of these characteristics
in the target population.
• The relevant control characteristics, which may include gender, age,
and race, are identified on the basis of judgment.
Non-Probability Sampling
Quota Sampling
• In the second stage, sample elements are selected based on
convenience or judgment.
• Once the quotas have been assigned, there is considerable freedom in
selecting the elements to be included in the sample.
• The only requirement is that the elements selected fit the control
characteristics.
Non-Probability Sampling
Quota Sampling (Example)
A study is undertaken to determine the readership of certain magazines
by the adult population of a metropolitan area with a population of
350,000.
A quota sample of 1,000 adults is selected.
The control characteristics are gender, age, and race.
Based on the composition of the adult population of the community, the
quotas are assigned as follows:
Non-Probability Sampling
Quota Sampling (Example)
Non-Probability Sampling
Snowball Sampling
• In snowball sampling, an initial group of respondents is selected,
usually at random.
• After being interviewed, these respondents are asked to identify others
who belong to the target population of interest.
• Subsequent respondents are selected based on the referrals.
• This process may be carried out in waves by obtaining referrals from
referrals, thus leading to a snowballing effect.
Non-Probability Sampling
Snowball Sampling
• For instance, if you wish to survey computer network
administrators and you know of only one or two such people, you can
start with them and ask them to recommend others who also do
network administration.
• You, therefore, need to:
• 1. Make contact with one or two cases in the population.
• 2. Ask these cases to identify further cases.
• 3. Ask these new cases to identify further new cases (and so on).
• 4.Stop when either no new cases are given or the sample is as large as
is manageable.
Non-Probability Sampling
Probability Sampling Techniques
Simple Random Sampling
• Each element in the population has a known and equal probability of
selection.
• Furthermore, each possible sample of a given size (n) has a known and
equal probability of being the sample actually selected.
• This implies that every element is selected independently of every
other element.
• The sample is drawn by a random procedure from a sampling frame.
• It involves you selecting the sample at random from the sampling
frame using either a computer or random number tables.
Simple Random Sampling
To do this you:
• 1.Number each of the cases in your sampling frame with a unique
number. The first case is numbered 0, the second 1 and so on.
• 2. Select cases using random numbers until your actual sample size is
reached.
Systematic random sampling
• In systematic sampling, the sample is chosen by selecting a random
starting point and then picking every ith element in succession from
the sampling frame.
• The sampling interval, i, is determined by dividing the population size
N by the sample size n and rounding to the nearest integer.
• For example, there are 100,000 elements in the population and a
sample of 1,000 is desired. In this case, the sampling interval, i, is 100.
• A random number between 1 and 100 is selected. If, for example, this
number is 23, the sample consists of elements 23, 123, 223, 323, 423,
523, and so on
Systematic random sampling
• For systematic sampling, the researcher assumes that the population
elements are ordered in some respect.
• For example, credit card customers may be listed in order of
outstanding balance, or firms in a given industry may be ordered
according to annual sales.
Stratified Sampling
• Stratified sampling is a two-step process in which the population is
partitioned into subpopulations, or strata.
• The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive in
that every population element should be assigned to one and only one
stratum and no population elements should be omitted.
• Next, elements are selected from each stratum by a random procedure,
usually SRS.
• Stratified sampling differs from quota sampling in that the sample
elements are selected probabilistically rather than based on
convenience or judgment.
Stratified Sampling
• The variables used to partition the population into strata are referred to
as stratification variables. Variables commonly used for stratification
include demographic characteristics (such as gender and age), type
of customer (credit card versus non–credit card), size of firm, or type
of industry.
Stratified Sampling
The procedures used for the stratified sampling are as follows:
• 1. Choose the stratification variable or variables.
• 2. Divide the sampling frame into the discrete strata.
• 3.Number each of the cases within each stratum with a unique number,
as discussed earlier.
• 4.Select your sample using either simple random or systematic random
sampling, as discussed earlier.
Stratified Sampling
Example
Dilek worked for a major supplier of office supplies to public and private
organizations. As part of her research into her organization's customers, she
needed to ensure that both public- and private sector organizations were
represented correctly.
An important stratum was, therefore, the sector of the organization.
Her sampling frame was therefore divided into two discrete strata: public
sector and private sector. Within each stratum, the individual cases were then
numbered (see below).
She decided to select a systematic random sample. A sampling fraction of 1/4
meant that she needed to select every fourth customer on the list. As indicated
by the ticks (✓), random numbers were used to select the first case in the
public sector (001) and private sector (003) strata. Subsequently, every fourth
customer in each stratum was selected.
Stratified Sampling
Cluster sampling
• Cluster sampling is, on the surface, similar to stratified random
sampling as you need to divide the target population into discrete
groups prior to sampling.
• The groups are termed clusters in this form of sampling and can be
based on any naturally occurring grouping.
• For example, you could group your data by type of manufacturing
firm or geographical area.
Cluster sampling
• For cluster sampling, your sampling frame is the complete list of
clusters rather than a complete list of individual cases within the
population.
• You then select a few clusters, normally using simple random
sampling. Data are then collected from every case within the selected
clusters.
• The technique has three main stages:
• 1. Choose the cluster grouping for your sampling frame.
• 2. Number each of the clusters with a unique number. The first cluster
is numbered 0, the second 1 and so on.
• 3. Select your sample of clusters using some form of random
sampling, as discussed earlier.
Cluster sampling
• The key distinction between cluster sampling and stratified sampling
is that in cluster sampling, only a sample of subpopulations (clusters)
is chosen, whereas in stratified sampling, all the subpopulations
(strata) are selected for further sampling.
• The objectives of the two methods are also different.
• The objective of cluster sampling is to increase sampling efficiency by
decreasing costs. The objective of stratified sampling is to increase
precision.
Deciding a Suitable Sample Size
• Generalizations about target populations from data collected using any
probability samples are based on statistical probability.
• The larger your sample’s size the lower the likely error in generalizing
to the target population.
• Probability sampling is therefore a compromise between the accuracy
of your findings and the amount of time and money you invest in
collecting, checking and analyzing the data.
• Your choice of sample size within this compromise is governed by:
Deciding a Suitable Sample Size
• The confidence you need to have in your data – that is, the level of
certainty that the characteristics of the data collected will represent the
characteristics of the target population;
• The margin of error that you can tolerate – that is, the accuracy you
require for any estimates made from your sample;
• The types of analyses you are going to undertake – in particular, the
number of categories into which you wish to subdivide your data, as
many statistical techniques have a minimum threshold of data cases
for each cell.
• The size of the target population from which your sample is being
drawn.
Deciding a Suitable Sample Size
• Researchers normally work to a 95 per cent level of certainty. This
means that if your sample was selected 100 times, at least 95 of these
samples would be certain to represent the characteristics of the target
population.

• The confidence level states the precision of your estimates of the target
population as the percentage that is within a certain range or margin
of error.

• The following Table provides a rough guide to the different minimum

sample sizes required from different sizes of target population given a
95 per cent confidence level for different margins of error.