Sampling Methods and

the Central Limit Theorem

Chapter 8

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Reasons for Sampling a Population
 It may be too time-consuming to contact all members of
the population
 The cost of studying all the items in the population may
be prohibitive
 It may be impossible to check or locate all the members of
the population
 Often testing destroys the sampled item and it cannot be
returned to the population
 The results of a sample may adequately estimate the value
of the population parameter, saving time and money

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Sampling designs/methods/techniques

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Sampling Error

 It is unlikely the mean of a sample will be exactly equal to the

mean of the population
SAMPLING ERROR The difference between a sample statistic and its
corresponding population parameter.

 Pop parameter = a population characteristic

 Sample statistic = a sample characteristic
 e.g. The Foxtrot Inn’s number of rooms rented in June. The
mean number of rooms rented, is 3.13  the pop mean
 [0+2+3+…+1+3+3] / 30 = 3.13 rooms per day (or about 3
rooms per day)

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Sampling Error

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Sampling Error
 Now, take 3 random samples of size 5 each
 “3 random samples” meaning, we do the sampling 3 times
 “size 5 each” meaning, in each of that 3 random samples, we
choose 5 days randomly (n = 5)
 we find sample means,
 =3.80, =3.40 and =1.80
 The sampling error is the difference between each

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Sampling Distribution of the Sample Mean
 We use the sample mean to estimate the pop mean.
 But, how can we determine how accurate the sample mean
is?

SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE SAMPLE MEAN A probability

distribution of all possible sample means of a given sample size.

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Sampling Distribution of the Sample Mean
 Relationship between pop distrb & the sampling distrb of
the sample mean:
 (1) For a given sample size, the mean of the sample means
is exactly equal to the pop mean.
 (2) There is less variation/dispersion in the distrb of the
sample mean than in the pop distrb.
 (3) The sampling distrb of the sample mean tends to become
bell-shaped, approximating a normal prob distrb.

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 Sampling Distribution Example
Tartus Industries has 7 production employees (the population). The hourly
earnings of each employee is given in the table.
1. What is the population mean?
2. What is the sampling distribution of the sample mean for samples of size
2?
3. What is the mean of the sampling distribution?
4. What observations can be made about the population and the sampling
distribution?

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Tartus Industries has seven production employees (the population).
The hourly earnings of each employee is given in the table.
1. What is the population mean?
= $15.43

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2. What is the sampling distribution of the sample mean for
samples of size 2?

Sample size, n =
2

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 Don’t confuse
the n in this
formula with
the sample size
n. They are
different things.

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 Tartus Industries has seven production employees (the population).
3. What is the mean of the sampling distribution, ?

15.43 is same as the pop mean.

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4. What observations can be made about the population and the
sampling distribution?

 The mean of the distribution of the sample mean ($15.43)

is equal to the mean of the population, =
 The spread in the distribution of the sample mean (14 to
17) is less than the spread in the population values (14 to
18)
 The shapes of the pop distrb & sample distrb are different

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 The shapes of the pop distrb & sample distrb are different

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Sampling distrb: worked eg
 Q6 on p.224:

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Sampling distrb: worked eg
 Answers to Q6 on p.224:

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Sampling distrb: Exc
 Your turn:
 Try Q5 & Q7 on p. 224

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Central Limit Theorem
THE CENTRAL LIMIT THEOREM If all samples of a particular
sample size are selected from any population, the sampling distribution
of the sample mean is approximately a normal distribution. This
approximation improves with larger samples (larger sample size, n).

 If the population follows a normal probability distribution, then

for any sample size the sampling distribution of the sample
mean will also be normal
 If the population distribution is symmetrical, you will see the
normal shape of the distribution of the sample mean emerge
with sample size as small as 10
 If the distribution is skewed or has thick tails, it may require
sample size of 30 or more to observe the normality feature
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Central Limit Theorem Results

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Simulation Demo
 The following link shows the relationship between the CLT,
pop mean that we want to estimate, and the sampling distrib of
the sample mean
 http://onlinestatbook.com/stat_sim/sampling_dist/index.html

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CLT Conclusions
 The mean of the distribution of sample means will be exactly
equal to the population mean, if we select all possible samples of
same size from the population
=
 The standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the sample
mean is also called the standard error of the mean

 There will be less dispersion in the sampling distribution of the

sample mean, , than in the population
 <
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 Normal Distribution

 If the population follows a normal distribution, the

sampling distribution of the sample mean will also follow
the normal distribution for samples of any size
 If the population is not normally distributed, the sampling
distribution of the sample mean will approach a normal
distribution when the sample size is at least 30
 Assume the population standard deviation is known
 To determine the probability that a sample mean falls in a
particular range, use the following formula

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Using the Sampling Distribution Example

- The QA Dept. for Cola maintains records regarding the amount

of cola in its bottle.
- The actual amount of cola in each bottle varies a small amount
from one bottle to another.
- Records indicate the amounts of cola follow the normal
distribution, the mean amount of cola in the bottles is 31.2
ounces, and the SD is 0.4 ounces.
- The quality technician randomly selected 16 bottles from the
filling line. The mean amount was 31.38 ounces.
- Is this an unlikely result? Is it likely the process is putting too
much soda in the bottle?
- Is the sampling error of 0.18 ounces unusual?

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z = = = 1.80

We conclude that it is unlikely; there is less than a 4%

chance. The process is putting too much soda in the
bottles, i.e. the sampling error of 0.18 ounces is unusual.
So, the technician should have the bottling machine
checked.
(read textbook, page 233-234)

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