APLD07-III

INQUIRIES, INVESTIGATION
AND IMMERSION
SLOVIN’S
FORMULA
SLOVIN’S FORMULA
sometimes written as Sloven’s Formula

formulated by Slovin in 1960

used to calculate an appropriate sample size

from a population
used to calculate the minimum sample sized
needed to estimate a statistic based on an
acceptable margin of error
 The error tolerance, “e” can be given

- subtract your confidence level from 1

For example, if you wanted to be 98 percent

confident that your data was going to be reflective
of the entire population then:

1 – 0.98 = 0.02
e = 0.02
 used to calculate the sample size for a
population when conducting a survey

where:
n - is the sample size
N - is the population size
e - is the margin of error (expressed as a decimal)
1 - constant value
STEPS :
▪ Determine the population size
(N).
▪ Choose the desired margin of
error (e). This is the level of
precision you want in your
survey results, expressed as a
decimal (e.g., 0.05 for a 5%
margin of error).
▪ Plug the values into the
formula.
 Example: Suppose you are conducting a survey in a city
with a population of 10,000, and you want a
margin of error of 0.05.
10, 000
Given: Solution: n= 1+ 10, 000 (0.05)2
N = 10,000
10, 000
e = 0.05 n= 1+ 10, 000 x 0.0025
Formula: 10, 000
n= 1+ 25

n ≈ 384.61
(round off to whole number)

Answer: Therefore, the needed sample size

will be approximately 385 for this survey.