sampling Flashcards
population
group that we want to find information about
-the whole set of items that are of interest
a census
observes or measures every member of a population.
a sample
a selection of observations taken from a subset of the population which is used to find out information about the population as a whole.
A sampling unit
a person/object to be sampled
sampling frame
collection of all the sampling units
census advantage
It should give a completely accurate result
census disadvantage
Time time-consuming and expensive
* Cannot be used when the testing
process destroys the item
* Hard to process large quantities of data
sample advantage
Less time consuming and expensive than a census
* Fewer people have to respond
* Less data to process than in a census
sample disadvantage
The data may not be as accurate
* The sample may not be large enough to give information about small sub-groups of the population
random sampling
every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
advantage of random sampling
-representative of the population
- Random sampling also helps to remove bias from a sample.
there are three methods of random sampling
-Simple random sampling
* Systematic sampling
* Stratified sampling
simple random sampling
A simple random sample of size n is one where every sample of size n has an equal chance of being selected.
to carry out random sampling you need
a sampling frame, usually a list of people or things.
Each person or thing is allocated a unique number and a selection of these numbers is chosen at
random.
-e.g generating random numbers using a calculator, or computer ..
-lottery sampling (sampling frames written on tickets in a hat)
systematic sampling
the required elements are chosen at regular intervals from an ordered list.
for example, every 10th member of the sample frame could be selected.
In stratified sampling, the population is divided into
mutually exclusive strata (males and
females, for example) and a random sample is taken from each.
formula used
The number sampled in a stratum = number in stratum /number in population
× Overall sample size
simple random sampling advantages
Free of bias
* Easy and cheap to implement for small
populations and small samples
* Each sampling unit has a known and equal
chance of selection
simple random sampling disadvantages
Not suitable when the population size or the
the sample size is large
* A sampling frame is needed
systematic sampling advantages
Simple and quick to use
* Suitable for large samples and large
populations
disadvantages in systematic sampling
A sampling frame is needed
* It can introduce bias if the sampling frame is
not random
stratified sampling advantages
The sample accurately reflects the population
structure
* Guarantees proportional representation of
groups within a population
stratified sampling disadvantages
The population must be clearly classified into
distinct strata
* Selection within each stratum suffers from
the same disadvantages as simple random
sampling
examples of non-random sampling
-quote sampling
-opportunity sampling