CHAPTER SEVEN

7.Sampling and Sampling Distribution

Definitions:
Parameter: Characteristic or measure obtained from a population.

Statistic: Characteristic or measure obtained from a sample.

Sampling: The process or method of sample selection from the population.

Sampling unit: the ultimate unit to be sampled or elements of the population to be

sampled.
Examples:
If some body studies Scio-economic status of the households, households are the

sampling unit.
If one studies performance of freshman students in some college, the student is the

sampling unit.
 Cont…

Sampling frame: is the list of all elements in a population under study.

Examples:


List of households.


List of students in the registrar office.

Errors in sample survey:


There are two types of errors

1. Sampling error: It is the discrepancy between the population value and sample value.
May arise due to inappropriate sampling techniques applied

2. Non sampling errors: are errors due to procedure bias such as:


Due to incorrect responses


Measurement


Errors at different stages in processing the data.
 Cont…
The Need for Sampling
 Reduced cost
 Greater speed
 Greater accuracy
 Greater scope
 More detailed information can be obtained.
There are two types of sampling.
1. Random Sampling or probability sampling
 It is a method of sampling in which all elements in the population have a
pre-assigned non-zero probability to be included in to the sample.
Examples:
 Simple random sampling

 Stratified random sampling

 Cluster sampling

 Systematic sampling
Simple Random Sampling
:

 All elements in the population have the same pre-assigned non-

zero probability to be included in to the sample.

 Simple random sampling can be done either using the lottery

method or table of random numbers.

 Stratified Random Sampling
The population will be divided in to non-overlapping but exhaustive groups

called strata.
Simple random samples will be chosen from each stratum.

Elements in the same strata should be more or less homogeneous while different

in different strata.
It is applied if the population is heterogeneous.

Example
The employees of Micro-sell were grouped according to their departments (sales,
marketing, research, and advertising), and 10 employees were selected at random
from each department.
 Cluster Sampling

 The population is divided in to non-overlapping groups called clusters.

 A simple random sample of groups or cluster of elements is chosen and all

the sampling units in the selected clusters will be surveyed.

 Clusters are formed in a way that elements with in a cluster are

heterogeneous, i.e. observations in each cluster should be more or less

dissimilar.
 Cluster sampling is useful when it is difficult or costly to generate a simple

random sample.
 Example.Five of the Foremost Hotel chain's 10 hotels were chosen at

random, and all employees in the chosen hotels were surveyed.

Systematic Sampling:
 Example 1
Suppose you have a list of the names of N=3,000 customers from which
a sample of n=500 is to be selected for a marketing survey. Dividing
3,000 by 500 yields k=6=random interval. That means that 1 of every 6
persons on the list will be in the sample.
To sample systematically from the list, you need a random start.

To obtain this, you can toss a die. Suppose the toss comes up with the

number 5. This means that you select the 5th name on the list first,
then the 11th, the 17th, the 23rd, and so on, until you have selected
500 names.
 Example 2.
1. In Ethiopian CSA demographic health surveys, a data collector
wants to select 30 couples from about 180 couples of the given
study area. Then, if he/she wants to use systematic random
sampling method to select a sample, and given that random start
number is 5 from random table. Then, what are the15th and 30th
couple code numbers respectively.
 Solution
By using the formula

Sn = R.S+(n-1)*R.I

Where
R.S=random start number=5,

n=total number of samples required=30,

R.I=random interval number=180/30=6

S15=5+(15-1)*6=89 and S30=5+(30-1)*6=179

 then,the15th and 30th couple code numbers are 89 and 179.
 Non Random Sampling (non-probability sampling)

It is a sampling technique in which the choice of individuals for a

sample depends on the basis of convenience, personal choice or

interest.
Examples:

 Judgment sampling.
 Convenience sampling
 Quota Sampling.
.
1.Judgment Sampling
In this case, the person taking the sample has direct or indirect

control over which items are selected for the sample.

Use the opinion of person(s) deemed qualified to choose

members of the sample.

Example: to investigate study habits of athlete's, ask their coaches

and teachers.
2. Convenience Sampling
 In this method, the decision maker selects a sample from the population in

a manner that is relatively easy and convenient.

 Consists of a group of individuals that is ready and available.

Example.

 Where do low-income people generally obtain mental health services, and

how do they pay for them?

 To answer this question, a survey was conducted over a 2­week period,

with interviewers posted in front of five supermarkets and five churches in

an urban, low income neighborhood.

 During the 2 weeks, 308 people completed the 10-minute survey.

 3. Quota Sampling

In this method, the decision maker requires the sample to contain a

certain number of items with a given characteristic.

Example : Many political elections are, in part, quota sampling.

This method of sampling is almost same with that of stratified

random sampling as stated above, the only difference is that here in

selecting the elements randomization is not done instead quota is
taken into consideration.
As quota sampling is not random so sampling method is biased and

lead to large sampling errors.

4. Purposive sampling:

this is non random sampling method; here the investigator selected the sample arbitrarily

which he considers important for the research and believes it as typical and representative

of the population.


Example :Say, an investigator wants to forecast the chance of coming into the power of a

political party in general election; for that purpose he selected some reporters, some

teachers and some elite people of the territory and collect their opinions.


He considers those are the leading persons and their view are relevant for the chance of

coming in to the power of the party.

As it is a purposive method it has big sampling errors and carry misleading conclusion.
Sampling distribution
Given a variable X, if we arrange its values in ascending order
and assign a probability to each of the values or if we present in
the form of relative frequency distribution the result is called
sampling distribution of X.
 Sampling distribution of the sample mean
 It is the probability distribution that shows the functional relationship

between the possible values of a given sample mean based on samples of

size and the probability associated with each possible values.

Steps for constructing the sampling distribution of the sample mean

1. From a finite population of size randomly draw all possible samples of size
2. Calculate the mean for each sample.
3. Summarize the mean obtained in step 2 in terms of frequency distribution.
4.Find the sampling distribution of the sample mean and variance of the
sample mean.
 Example
Suppose we have a population of size, consisting of the age of three
children: 1, 2 and 6.
and

Take samples of size 2 with replacement and construct sampling

distribution of the sample mean.
Solution

Now we draw these possible samples…..

 Cont

Step 1: Draw all possible samples: Step 2: Calculate the mean for each sample:

2nd 1 2 6 2nd 1 2 6

1st
1st
1 (1,1) (1,2) (1,6)

2 (2,1) (2,2) (2,6) 1 1 1.5 3.5

2 1.5 2 4
6 (6,1) (6,2) (6,6)
6 3.5 4 6