Universe and Sampling

Professor Mokaddem Hossain

Pro Vice Chancellor
Bangladesh Open University
Email: mokaddemdu@[Link]
 POPULATIONS AND SAMPLING
• Population - a complete set of elements
(persons or objects) that possess some
common characteristic defined by the
sampling criteria established by the researcher.
• Composed of two groups - target population &
accessible population.
• Target population (universe)
The entire group of people or objects to which
the researcher wishes to generalize the study
findings.
 • Examples
• All people with AIDS
• All school-age children with asthma
• All low birth weight infants
• All pregnant teens
• Accessible population
• the portion of the population to which the
researcher has reasonable access; may be a
subset of the target population
• May be limited to region, state, city, county, or
institution
• All elderly people in urban Bangladesh
• All people with AIDS in the metropolitan
Dhaka
• All low birth weight infants admitted to the
neonatal ICUs in Dhaka Medical College
• Samples
• Sample = the selected elements (people or
objects) chosen for participation in a study;
people are referred to as subjects or
participants.
• Sampling = the process of selecting a group of
people, events, behaviors, or other elements with
which to conduct a study.
• Sampling frame = a list of all the elements in the
population from which the sample is drawn.
• Could be extremely large if population is national
or international in nature.
• Frame is needed so that everyone in the
population is identified so they will have an equal
opportunity for selection as a subject (element).
• A list of all elderly people in Lalbag area
• A list of all pregnant women in Mohammadpur area.
• CENSUS AND SAMPLE SURVEY
• All items in any field of inquiry constitute a ‘Universe’ or
‘Population.’ A complete enumeration of all items in the
‘population’ is known as a census inquiry.
• It can be presumed that in such an inquiry, when all items are
covered, no element of chance is left and highest accuracy is
obtained.
• But in practice this may not be true. Even the slightest
element of bias in such an inquiry will get larger and larger as
the number of observation increases.
• Moreover, there is no way of checking the element of bias or
its extent except through a resurvey or use of sample checks.
• Besides, this type of inquiry involves a great deal of time,
money and energy. Therefore, when the field of inquiry is
large, this method becomes difficult to adopt because of the
resources involved.
• At times, this method is practically beyond the reach of
ordinary researchers. Perhaps, government is the only
institution which can get the complete enumeration carried
out.
• Even the government adopts this in very rare cases such as
population census conducted once in a decade.
• Further, many a time it is not possible to examine every item
in the population, and sometimes it is possible to obtain
sufficiently accurate results by studying only a part of total
population.
• In such cases there is no utility of census surveys
• The respondents selected should be as representative of the
total population as possible in order to produce
• a miniature cross-section.
• The selected respondents constitute what is technically called
a ‘sample’ and the selection process is called ‘sampling
technique.’
• The survey so conducted is known as ‘sample survey’.
Algebraically, let the population size be N and if a part of size
n (which is < N) of this population is selected according to
some rule for studying some characteristic of the population,
the group consisting of these n units is known as ‘sample’.
• Researcher must prepare a sample design for his study i.e.,
he/she must plan how a sample should be selected and of
what size such a sample would be.
 IMPLICATIONS OF A SAMPLE DESIGN
• A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from
a given population. It refers to the technique or the procedure
the researcher would adopt in selecting items for the sample.
• Sample design may as well lay down the number of items to be
included in the sample i.e., the size of the sample.
• Sample design is determined before data are collected. There
are many sample designs from which a researcher can choose.
• Some designs are relatively more precise and easier to apply
than others.
• Researcher must select/prepare a sample design which should
be reliable and appropriate for his research study.
 STEPS IN SAMPLE DESIGN
• While developing a sampling design, the researcher must pay
attention to the following points:
• (i) Type of universe: The first step in developing any sample
design is to clearly define the set of objects, technically called
the Universe, to be studied.
• The universe can be finite or infinite.
• In finite universe the number of items is certain, but in case of
an infinite universe the number of items is infinite, i.e., we
cannot have any idea about the total number of items.
• The population of a city, the number of workers in a factory and
the like are examples of finite universes, whereas the number of
stars in the sky, listeners of a specific radio programme,
throwing of a dice etc. are examples of infinite universes.
• Sampling unit: A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit
before selecting sample.
• Sampling unit may be a geographical one such as state, district, village,
etc., or a construction unit such as house, flat, etc., or it may be a social
unit such as family, club, school, etc., or it may be an individual.
• The researcher will have to decide one or more of such units that he
has to select for his study.
• (iii) Source list: It is also known as ‘sampling frame’ from which sample
is to be drawn.
• It contains the names of all items of a universe (in case of finite
universe only).
• If source list is not available, researcher has to prepare it. Such a list
should be comprehensive, correct, reliable and appropriate.
• It is extremely important for the source list to be as representative of
the population as possible.
• Size of sample: This refers to the number of items to be
selected from the universe to constitute a sample.
• This a major problem before a researcher. The size of
sample should neither be excessively large, nor too small.
It should be optimum.
• An optimum sample is one which fulfills the requirements
of efficiency, representativeness, reliability and flexibility.
• While deciding the size of sample, researcher must
determine the desired precision as also an acceptable
confidence level for the estimate.
• The size of population variance needs to be considered as
in case of larger variance usually a bigger sample is
needed.
• The size of population must be kept in view for
this also limits the sample size.
• The parameters of interest in a research study
must be kept in view, while deciding the size
of the sample.
• Costs too dictate the size of sample that we
can draw.
• As such, budgetary constraint must invariably
be taken into consideration when we decide
the sample size.
• Parameters of interest: In determining the sample
design, one must consider the question
• of the specific population parameters which are of
interest. For instance, we may beinterested in
estimating the proportion of persons with some
characteristic in the population,
• or we may be interested in knowing some average or
the other measure concerning the population.
• There may also be important sub-groups in the
population about whom we would like to make
estimates. All this has a strong impact upon the sample
design we would accept
• Budgetary constraint: Cost considerations, from practical point
of view, have a major impact upon decisions relating to not only
the size of the sample but also to the type of sample.
• This fact can even lead to the use of a non-probability sample.
• (vii) Sampling procedure: Finally, the researcher must decide
the type of sample he will use i.e., he must decide about the
technique to be used in selecting the items for the sample.
• In fact, this technique or procedure stands for the sample design
itself.
• There are several sample designs (explained in the pages that
follow) out of which the researcher must choose one for his
study.
• Obviously, he must select that design which, for a given sample
size and for a given cost, has a smaller sampling error.
 CRITERIA OF SELECTING A SAMPLING PROCEDURE
• In this context one must remember that two costs are involved
in a sampling analysis viz., the cost of collecting the data and
the cost of an incorrect inference resulting from the data.
• Researcher must keep in view the two causes of incorrect
inferences viz., systematic bias and sampling error.
• A systematic bias results from errors in the sampling
procedures, and it cannot be reduced or eliminated by
increasing the sample size.
• At best the causes responsible for these errors can be detected
and corrected.
• Usually a systematic bias is the result of one or more of the
following factors:
• Inappropriate sampling frame: If the sampling frame is
inappropriate i.e., a biased representation of the universe, it will
result in a systematic bias.
• Defective measuring device: If the measuring device is constantly
in error, it will result in systematic bias. In survey work, systematic
bias can result if the questionnaire or the interviewer is biased.
• Similarly, if the physical measuring device is defective there will be
systematic bias in the data collected through such a measuring
device.
• Non-respondents: If we are unable to sample all the individuals
initially included in the sample, there may arise a systematic bias.
• The reason is that in such a situation the likelihood of establishing
contact or receiving a response from an individual is often
correlated with the measure of what is to be estimated.
• In-determinancy principle: Sometimes we find that
individuals act differently when kept under observation
than what they do when kept in non-observed situations.
• For instance, if workers are aware that somebody is
observing them in course of a work study on the basis of
which the average length of time to complete a task will
be determined and accordingly the quota will be set for
piece work, they generally tend to work slowly in
comparison to the speed with which they work if kept
unobserved.
• Thus, the in-determinancy principle may also be a cause
of a systematic bias.
• Natural bias in the reporting of data: Natural bias of
respondents in the reporting of data is
• often the cause of a systematic bias in many inquiries.
There is usually a downward bias in the income data
collected by government taxation department, whereas
we find an upward bias in the income data collected by
some social organisation.
• People in general understate their incomes if asked about
it for tax purposes, but they overstate the same if asked
for social status or their affluence.
• Generally in psychological surveys, people tend to give
what they think is the ‘correct’ answer rather than
revealing their true feelings.
• Sampling errors are the random variations in the
sample estimates around the true population
parameters.
• Since they occur randomly and are equally likely
to be in either direction, their nature happens to
be of compensatory type and the expected value
of such errors happens to be equal to zero.
• Sampling error decreases with the increase in
the size of the sample, and it happens to be of a
smaller magnitude in case of homogeneous
population.
• Sampling error can be measured for a given sample design and
size. The measurement of sampling error is usually called the
‘precision of the sampling plan’.
• If we increase the sample size, the precision can be improved.
But increasing the size of the sample has its own limitations viz.,
a
• large sized sample increases the cost of collecting data and also
enhances the systematic bias.
• Thus the effective way to increase precision is usually to select a
better sampling design which has a smaller sampling error for a
given sample size at a given cost.
• In practice, however, people prefer a less precise design because
it is easier to adopt the same and also because of the fact that
systematic bias can be controlled in a better way in such a
design.
• a relatively small sampling error and helps to control the
systematic bias in a better way.
• CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SAMPLE DESIGN
• From what has been stated above, we can list down the
characteristics of a good sample design as under:
• (a) Sample design must result in a truly representative sample.
• (b) Sample design must be such which results in a small sampling
error.
• (c) Sample design must be viable in the context of funds available
for the research study.
• (d) Sample design must be such so that systematic bias can be
controlled in a better way.
• (e) Sample should be such that the results of the sample study can
be applied, in general, for the universe with a reasonable level of
confidence.
 DIFFERENT TYPES OF SAMPLE DESIGNS
• There are different types of sample designs based on two factors viz., the
representation basis and the element selection technique.
• On the representation basis, the sample may be probability sampling or it
may be non-probability sampling.
• Probability sampling is based on the concept of random selection, whereas
non-probability sampling is ‘non-random’ sampling.
• On element selection basis, the sample may be either unrestricted or
restricted.
• When each sample element is drawn individually from the population at
large, then the sample so drawn is known as ‘unrestricted sample’, whereas
all other forms of sampling are covered under the term ‘restricted sampling’.
• The following chart exhibits the sample designs as explained above.
• Thus, sample designs are basically of two types viz., non-probability
sampling and probability sampling. We take up these two designs separately.
 BASIC SAMPLING DESIGNS
• Probability sampling
Simple random sampling
• Complex random sampling is restricted
(such as cluster sampling, systematic sampling,
stratified sampling etc.)
• Non-probability sampling
Haphazard sampling or convenience sampling
• Purposive sampling (such as quota sampling,
judgment sampling)