CHAPTER ONE

Sampling and Sampling

distribution
Sampling theory
 Sampling is simply the process of learning about
the population on the basis of the sample drawn
from it.
 Sampling technique instead of every unit of the
population only part of the population is studied
and the conclusions are drawn on that basis for
the entire population.
 The process of sampling involves three elements:
selecting the sample, collecting the information
and making an inference about the population.
Basic concepts of sampling theory
 Population: is used to mean the totality of cases
(items) under consideration in a given
investigation or research.
 Census: The process of gathering data from every
element in the population
 Sample: Is part of population of interest. Any
non-empty subset of a population is called
sample. There are different possible samples that
can be selected from a single population.
 Sampling: The method of selecting a sample
from a population.
 Statistics: It is a measurable characteristic of the sample.
In short it is a sample result.
 Parameter: It is a measurable characteristic of the
population or it is a numerical result obtained as
measuring the population.
 Sampling frame: The list of all possible units in the
reference population
 Sample size: The number of elements observations in a
specific sample
 Sampling error: The difference between sample statistic
and population parameters
 Sampling unit: Elements of the population to be sampled
or the unit of selection in the sampling process
 Sample design: Is the set of procedures for selecting the
sample elements from the population
Reason for sampling
The following are the major reasons for sampling
technique:
 Cost/economy
 Timeliness
 Large population size
 Inaccessibility of the entire population
 Destructive nature of many tests
 Accuracy
Sampling methods
 There are two principal methods of drawing a
sample from a population:
i. probability sampling and
ii. non- probability.
Probability sampling
In the case of probability sampling each
observation in the population has an equal chance
of being selected to become part of the population.
There is no human judgment in the case of
probability sampling
Types of probability sampling techniques
i. Simple random sampling
ii. Stratified sampling
iii. Systematic sampling
iv. Cluster sampling
 i. Simple random sample
 Simple random sampling is a method of
probability sampling in which every unit in the
population has an equal non-zero chance of being
selected (or part of the sample).
 In other words, each element of the population
has an equal and independent chance of being
included into the sample.
 The probability is given by n/N
The methods of selecting a sample of random
sample
i. Lottery method
ii. Random number method
Advantage of simple random sampling
 It ensures that the sample is unbiased
Disadvantages of simple random sampling
 It requires a sampling frame, and this is
sometimes impossible (the case of fish
population)
 If the population is very large, it is tedious and
time consuming to number and select the sample
 Minority subgroups of the population may not be
represented in the sample.
 ii. Stratified sampling
 In stratified sampling, a population is first divided
into subgroups, called strata (singular stratum).
And a sample is selected from each stratum
based on simple random or systematic sampling
method.
 The strata are made according to various
homogeneous characteristics such as sex, race,
region or institutional affiliation such as faculty.
 Stratified sampling is applied if the population is
heterogeneous
Example: to select a proportionate stratified sample
of 20 households from Addis Ababa that belongs to
three income groups: low (50), middle (30) and high
(20) (N = 50+30+20=100).
Advantages of stratified sampling
 The representation of the sample is improved
Disadvantages of stratified sampling
 If there are many variables of interest, dividing a
large population in to representative subgroups
requires a great deal of effort,
 If variables are somewhat complex or ambiguous
(such as beliefs, attitudes, etc), it is difficult to
separate individuals in to the sub-groups
according to these variables.
 iii. Systematic sampling
• In systematic sampling only one random number
is needed throughout the entire sampling
process. Elements of the population will be
arranged in some order and the elements to be
included in the sample will be selected at a
constant interval.
 To use systematic sampling, a researcher needs:
i. A sampling frame of the population
ii. A skip interval (K) calculated as follows
Skip interval (K) = population list/sample = N/n = K
Example: suppose there are 2000 subjects in the
population and a sample size is 50 subjects are
needed.
Advantages of systematic sampling
 Less time consuming and easier to perform than SRS
 It is more convenient to use as compared to SRS,
and
 It provides a good approximation to SRS
Disadvantage of systematic sampling
 If there is any sort of cyclic ordering of the subjects,
the sample will not be representative of the
population.
Example: if subjects in the population are arranged in a
manner such as:
• Defective item
• Non-defective item etc,
 Iv. Cluster sampling
 Cluster sampling can be used if the population is
homogeneous and very large in size.
 It is a type of sampling in which the population is
divided into non-overlapping heterogeneous
groups called clusters or groups.
 In other words, cluster sampling is a type of
sampling which involves dividing the population
into groups (clusters). Then, one or more
clusters are chosen at random and individual
with in the chosen cluster is sampled.
Advantages of cluster sampling
 A list of all individual study units in the reference
population is not required
 Reduces cost, and
 Simplifies field work and it is convenient
Disadvantages of cluster sampling
 The members of the clusters are often more
homogeneous than the members of the whole
population and therefore, it may not be
representative.
 The elements in a cluster may not have the same
variation in characteristics as elements selected
individually from the population
 2) Non-probability sampling
 In the case of non-probability sampling, not every
unit in the population has a chance of being
included in the sample.
 It involves at least some degree of personal
subjectivity instead of following predetermined,
probabilistic rules for selection.
 Types of non-probability Sampling
i. Convenience sampling
ii. Judgmental sampling
iii. Quota sampling
 i. Convenience sampling
 Convenience sampling implies sample drawn at
the convenience of the research. It is common in
exploratory research. Does not lead to any
conclusion
 ii. Judgmental sampling
 Sampling based on some judgment, gut-feelings
or experience of the researcher. It is common in
commercial marketing research projects. If
inference drawing is not necessary, these
samples are quite useful.
 iii. Quota sampling
• In this method, the decision maker requires the
sample to contain a certain number of items with
a given characteristics. It is something like
judgmental sampling
Example: suppose we know that 54% of the adults
in a community are females, and the study requires
100 respondents as a sample. In quota sampling,
we might interview the first 54 females and the first
46 males.
Determinant factors of the sample size
 The sample size should be neither too small nor
too large. Rather it should be optimal
i. The size of the population
ii. The resource available
iii. The degree of accuracy/precision desire
iv. Homogeneous or heterogeneous of the pop.
v. Nature of the study
vi. Method of sampling adopted
vii. Nature of respondent
Sampling distribution
Sampling distribution
 Sampling distribution is a probability distribution
for the possible values of a sample statistics.
Population distribution:
 Is the distribution of measured values of its
members and have mean by µ and variance δ2
and standard deviation describes the variation
among values of members of the population
 Whereas the standard deviation of sampling
distribution measures the variability among
values of the statistics (sample) such as mean
values, proportion values due to sampling errors.
Sample distribution:
 Is the distribution of measured values of sample
in random samples drawn from a given
population.
 Each sample mean would vary from sample to
sample. This variability serves as the basis for
random sampling distribution.
 A sampling distribution is a probability
distribution for the possible values of a sample
statistics, such as a sample mean.
Sampling distribution of the mean
 Sampling distribution of the mean: is the
probability distribution of all possible values of a
given statistics (sample) from all district possible
sample of equal size drawn from a population or
a process.
 The sampling distribution of the mean values has
its own arithmetic mean denoted by µx and
standard deviation.
NB: The sampling distribution of the mean is not
the sample distribution, which is the distribution
of the measured values of X in one random
sample.
Rather the sampling distribution of the mean is the
probability distribution for ­Ⱦ, the sample mean.
 For any given sample size n taken from a
population with mean µ and standard deviation
δ, the value of the sample mean ­Ⱦ would vary
from sample to sample if several random samples
were obtained from the population. This
variability serves as the basis for sampling
distribution.
Properties of the sampling distribution of means
1) The arithmetic mean µx of sampling distribution
of mean values is equal to the population mean µ
regardless of the form of population distribution,
i.e. µx = µ
2) The sampling distribution has a standard
deviation equal to the population standard
deviation divided by the square root of the sample
size i.e. δx = δ/(N)1/2. This hold true if and only if
n < 0.05N and N is very large. If N is finite and
n>0.05N , δ­Ⱦ = S/(n)1/2 or , δ­
Ⱦ = S/(n) 1/2
*(N-n/N-1) 1/2
3) A sample size n≥30 is generally said to be
considered to be a large sample for statistical
analysis where as a sample of size n <30 is
considered to be a small sample. The sampling
distribution of means is approximately normal for
sufficiently large sample sizes (n≥30).
4) When standard deviation of population δ is not
known, the standard deviation of the sample s
which closely approximates δ value is used to
compute standard error, i.e. δx = S/(n)1/2
Example 1. A population consists of the following
ages: 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50. A random sample of
three is to be selected from this population and
mean computed.
1) Develop the sampling distribution of the mean
2) Compute population standard deviation and
sample standard deviation
Central limit theorem and sampling distribution of
a mean
CLT states that:-
1) If the population is normally distributed, the
distribution of sample means is normal
regardless of the sample size
2) If the population from which samples are taken
is not normal, the distribution of sample means
will be approximately normal if the sample size
(n) is sufficiently large (n≥30). The larger the
sample size is used, the closer the sampling
distribution is to the normal curve.
 The relationship between the shape of the
population distribution and the shape of the
sampling distribution of the mean is called the
Central Limit Theorem
 The significance of the CLT is that it permits us to
use sample statistics to make inference about the
population parameters without knowing
anything about the shape of the frequency
distribution of that population other than what
we can get from the sample.
Example 2. the mean length of a certain tool is 41.5
hours with a standard deviation of 2.5 hours. What
is the probability that a simple random sample of
size 50 drawn from this population will have a
mean between 40.5 and 42 hours?
Example 3. a continuous manufacturing process
produces items whose weights are normally
distributed with a mean weight of 800 gms and
standard deviation of 300 gms. A random sample of
16 items is to be selected from the process.
A. What is the probability that the arithmetic mean
of the sample exceeds 900 gms? Interpret the
result
B. Find the values of the sample arithmetic mean
with in which the middle 95% of the sample
means will fall
Sampling distribution of sample proportion
The sample distribution P having the characteristics
of interest (success or failure, accept or reject,
head or tail) is the best use for statistical inferences
about the population parameter P. the sample
proportion can be defined as:
P = number of success, X / sample n
With the same logic of sampling distribution of
mean, the sampling distribution of sample
proportion with mean and standard deviation
Example 1. few years back, a policy was introduced
to give loans to unemployed engineers to start
their own businesses. Out of 1,000,000 engineers
600,000 accepted the policy and got the loan. A
sample of 100 unemployed engineers is taken at
the same time of allotment of loans. What is the
probability that sample portion would have
exceeded 50% acceptance?
Example 2. A population proportion is 0.40. A
simple random sample of size 200 will be taken and
the sample proportion will be used to estimate the
population proportion, what is the probability that
the sample proportion will be with in ±0.03 of the
population proportion.
Example 3. A manufacturer of watches has
determined from past experience that 3% of the
watches he produces are defective. If a random
sample of 300 watches is examined, what is the
probability that the proportion of defective is
between 0.02 and 0.035?
Reading assignment
1. Sampling distribution of a difference between
two means
2. Sampling distribution of a difference between
two proportions
‘’Thank you’’