SAMPLING

➢ Sampling is the process of selecting a group of elements.

➢ A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about whereas a
sample is a specific group, within a population, in which you will collect data and
draw conclusions from.

From a population

A census can be taken A sample survey can be taken

➢ What is a census?
A census is obtained when every member of the population is considered and studied.

Appropriate: When the population is small

Advantage: The results are accurate

Inappropriate: When the population is large

Disadvantages: time consuming, Costly, very difficult for results to be accurate & in some cases, the
population elements may be destroyed.

One instance where a census is necessary is the case in which the country needs to know, as
accurately as possible, all its citizens.

SAMPLE SURVEY
This is obtained when a subset is taken from a larger population. Sample surveys are appropriate and
desirable in most cases.
Advantages

• Quick
• Cheap
• Once the sample is representative of the population, i.e., the sample is random, it allows us to
predict the population characteristics accurately.
 Disadvantage:

• In the case where the population elements are widely dispersed a representative sample may
not be an easy task.

➢ A statistic is a quantity used to define a sample.

e.g. sample mean and sample variance

• 𝑥̅
These are called sample statistics
• 𝑠 2

➢ A parameter is a quantity used to define a population.

e.g. Population mean and Population Variance

• 𝜇 (pronounced mu)

These are called population parameters

• 𝜎 2 (sigma square)

➢ The sample distribution is a probability distribution associated with the variation in the values of that
statistic.

Target population: This is the population of interest

The sampling unit: This is an individual item to be sampled

The sampling frame: This is a means of identifying the population items.

This could be a very difficult task if the sampling frame is very large, for example, If the sampling
frame is an eligible voters list.
 Example:
All High schools in Guyana- Target Population

One Particular high school in Guyana- Sampling Unit

A list of all the high Schools in Guyana possessed by the ministry of Education- Sampling frame

Question: State which of the following is the target population, sampling unit, or sampling frame.
All pupils at a particular high school
A list of all pupils in the high school possessed by the headmistress
A particular/individual pupil at the high school.

➢ What is Bias?
Bias occurs when each member of the population does not have an equal chance of being selected.
A sampling method is called biased if it systematically favours some outcomes over others.

Sources of bias:

• An accurate sampling frame does not exist

• The wrong choice of sampling unit
• Non-response for chosen sampling units
• Biased introduced by the experimenter.

➢ Representative sampling
This allows us to use data from a sample to make conclusions about the population

➢ What is a sample error?

A sample error is a statistical error that occurs when the sample selected does not represent
the entire population, therefore the results found in the sample will not represent the results
that would be obtained from the entire population.
Therefore, you must select the sampling method relevant to the population characteristics.
 Types of Sampling
There are two methods of sampling:
1. Random sampling
2. Non- Random Sampling

RANDOM SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

In any random sample, each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

1. Simple Random sampling (Random number generator)

Procedure:
A. Allocate to each member of the sampling frame a sequential number.
B. Select the sample using random numbers
NOTE: the random numbers can be generated from a random number table, computer, or
calculator.
A random number table is a list of numbers that can be used to generate numbers to simulate
experiments. This means that numbers may be used for values or it may be used to represent other
types of data.
NOTE: if while choosing numbers from a random number table a number repeats, skip and move on
to the next row

2. Systemic Random sampling

Procedure:
A. List all the population items in some order, e.g. Alphabetical, order of ranking, or order of
completion
B. Choose the starting point randomly, to do this we divide the total number of items from
the population by the sample size we want.
C. Choose every 𝑛𝑡ℎ member from the ordered list.

Advantages: Quick and easy to check for errors

Disadvantages: it is periodic/cyclic and this may introduce bias

3. Stratified Random Sampling

Procedure:
A. Split the population into groups/ strata that are different from each other.
B. Select a random sample from each stratum in proportion to the number in that group.
C. Combine the samples from each stratum to form the overall sample.
NON-RANDOM SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
1. Cluster Sampling.
Natural subgroups of a population are called clusters.
Example: persons living in affluent(wealthy) areas.

Procedure:
A. Choose a random sample of clusters
B. Sample within each cluster to get the required number of sampling items.

Advantages: Quick, Cheap and there is no need to have a sampling frame for the entire population
Disadvantage: this technique is non-random and thus can introduce bias.

Note:
In cluster sampling, the clusters should be as similar to each other as possible, unlike stratified
random sampling where the strata are as different to each other as possible.