Lesson 3

Sample Size Distribution

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Let’s Hit These:

At the end of this lesson, the students must have:

Comprehended the basic terminologies/concepts of Statistics;
Solved and identified the number of respondents that will be taken proportionally in
every group or category.
Appreciated the different applications of Statistics.

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 Sample Size Distribution
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Let’s Get Started:

Finding the Sample Size (n)

Recall:

Sampling

 It is a shortcut method for investigating a whole population.

 The data are gathered on a small part of the whole population and used to inform what the whole picture
is like.

Why Sample?
In reality there is simply not enough time, energy, money, labor or man power, equipment, access to
suitable sites to measure every single item or site within the whole population. Therefore an appropriate
sampling strategy is adopted to obtain a representative, and statistically valid sample of the whole.

Sampling Formula

Where n = sample size

N = population
e = margin error (0.05)

Note:
Read the blog of Mark Chu-Carroll in “Good Math, Bad Math” entitled “Basics: Margin of Error” posted January
22, 2007 (Link: http://www.goodmath.org/blog/2007/01/22/basics-margin-of-error/#more-284).
Here is an excerpt of his blog:

“Most of the time when we’re doing statistics, we’re doing statistics based on a SAMPLE – that is, the
entire population we’re interested in is difficult to study; so what we try to do is pick
a REPRESENTATIVE subset called a SAMPLE. If the subset is truly representative, then the
statistics you generate using information gathered from the sample will be THE SAME as
information gathered from the population as a whole.”

“But life is never simple. We NEVER have perfectly representative samples; in fact, it’s
impossible to select a perfectly representative sample. So we do our best to pick good samples,
and we use probability theory to work out a predication of how confident we can be that the statistics
from our sample are representative of the entire population. That’s basically what the margin of error
represents: how well we think that the selected sample will allow us to predict things about the entire
population.”

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 Sample Size Distribution
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Example: Determine the number of students in each college to be taken as respondents.

Data
Department # of Students Solution:
Given: N = 2650
CA 200
e = 0.05
CAS 400
CBA 450
CE 350
SIE 250
IT 220
ComSci 210
CN 300
GS 150
Law 120
Total 2650

Note that excel is used in this computation.

The numbers are 0.075471698113 and are Multiply the sample size (n)
Divide the # of students per by the percent share.
retained/used in identifying the distribution
department by the population (N)
of sample units.

Round off answers to the

Dept. # of Percent Share in Distribution of sample Units # of nearest hundreths (2 numbers
Students Every Department Respondents after the decimal point).
CA 200 200÷2650 = 0.075 348 * 0.075 = 26.26 Apply rules in rounding off.
Do the same steps until the
CAS 400 400÷2650 = 0.151 348 * 0.151 = 52.53 last department (Law)

CBA 450 450÷2650 = 0.170 348 * 0.170 = 59.09

CE 350 350÷2650 = 0.132 348 * 0.132 = 45.96
SIE 250 250÷2650 = 0.094 348 * 0.094 = 32.83
Note: All numbers with color
IT 220 220÷2650 = 0.083 348 * 0.083 = 28.89 red are the top 6 numbers with
highest decimals.
ComSci 210 210÷2650 = 0.079 348 * 0.079 = 27.58
CN 300 300÷2650 = 0.113 348 * 0.113 = 39.40
GS 150 150÷2650 = 0.057 348 * 0.057 = 19.70
Law 120 120÷2650 = 0.045 348 * 0.045 = 15.76
Total 2650       342
Since the total is only 342 and sample size (n) =
348, we need to identify the top 6 numbers with
highest decimals (348 – 342 = 6). Based on the
Add all the whole numbers only. data above, these numbers are the following:
26 + 52 + 59 + 45 + 32 + 28 + 27 + 39 + 19 + 15 = 342 45.96, 28.89, 32.83, 15.76, 19.70 and 27.58.
These numbers will be rounded UP.

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 Sample Size Distribution
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Final Table

Copy the whole number

only.

Dept. # of Percent Share in Distribution of sample Units # of

Students Every Department Respondents
CA 200 200÷2650 = 0.075 348 * 0.075 = 26.26 26
CAS 400 400÷2650 = 0.151 348 * 0.151 = 52.53 52
CBA 450 450÷2650 = 0.170 348 * 0.170 = 59.09 59 Round UP all highlighted
numbers. They are the top
CE 350 350÷2650 = 0.132 348 * 0.132 = 45.96 46 6 numbers with highest
decimals.
SIE 250 250÷2650 = 0.094 348 * 0.094 = 32.83 33
IT 220 220÷2650 = 0.083 348 * 0.083 = 28.89 29
ComSci 210 210÷2650 = 0.079 348 * 0.079 = 27.58 28
CN 300 300÷2650 = 0.113 348 * 0.113 = 39.40 39
GS 150 150÷2650 = 0.057 348 * 0.057 = 19.70 20
Law 120 120÷2650 = 0.045 348 * 0.045 = 15.76 16
Total 2650       342 348

Since the total is only 342 and sample size (n) =

348, we need to identify the top 6 numbers with
highest decimals (348 – 342 = 6). Based on the
data above, these numbers are the following:
45.96, 28.89, 32.83, 15.76, 19.70 and 27.58.
These numbers will be rounded UP.

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 Sample Size Distribution
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Let’s Do This:

Activity # 5
Sample Size Distribution

Name: __________________________ Score:_________________________

Problem: Determine the number of students in each college to be taken as respondents.

Data:
CAS = 152
CN = 100
CBA = 450
HRM = 200
CE = 250
IE = 95
CA = 77

Solution:
N = ___________ (total number of students)
e = 0.05

Sampling Formula

n = -------------------

n = -------------------- (round UP please)

Distribution of sample
# of Percent Share in Units # of
Data Students every Department Respondents

CAS 152

CN 100

CBA 450

HRM 200

CE 250

IE 95

CA 77

Total

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