Approaches to Sampling (Statistics)

Question 1

Define population

Answer 1

Any sizeable aggregate of people who satisfy a set of membership criteria.

Membership criteria often described by:
-Person e.g. age, sex, race, ethnicity, occupation
- Place e.g. country, region, place of employment
- Time e.g. calendar year, time in life course

Rationale for sampling is that it is usually not possible to sample an entire population

Question 2

Population Parameters

Answer 2

A numerical description of the population

Question 3

Sample

Answer 3

A representative subset of the population

Question 4

Sample estimate

Answer 4

Estimates population parameter e.g. average height of sample to estimate the average height of the population of interest