Methods of Probability
sampling
Simple random sampling
• In a simple random sample, every member of the
population has an equal chance of being
selected.
• Tools used for simple random sampling
Random number generator
Pre requisites of Simple Random Sampling
• A complete list of every member of the population.
• Contact or access each member of the population if they are selected.
• Time and resources to collect data from the necessary sample size.
Systematic sampling
•Every member of the population is listed
with a number, but instead of randomly
generating numbers, individuals are
chosen at regular intervals.
• Eg:All employees of the company are listed in alphabetical order.
From the first 10 numbers, you randomly select a starting point:
number 6. From number 6 onwards, every 10th person on the list is
selected (6, 16, 26, 36, and so on), and you end up with a sample of
100 people.
Stratified sampling
• Dividing the population into subpopulations that may differ in
important ways.
• It allows the researcher to draw more precise conclusions by
ensuring that every subgroup is properly represented in the
sample.
Cluster sampling
• Dividing the population into subgroups, but each subgroup should
have similar characteristics to the whole sample.
• Eg: The company has offices in 10 cities across the country (all with
roughly the same number of employees in similar roles).
• For the researcher it would be very difficult to travel to every office
for collecting the data.
• Use random sampling to select 3 offices and these acts as clusters
under study.
Population vs sample
In research, a population is the entire group that you’re interested in
studying.
A sample is a smaller group taken from the population
Parameter vs Statistic
A parameter is a value that describes a characteristic of an entire
population, such as the population mean.
The population mean and standard deviation are two common
parameters.
In statistics, Greek symbols usually represent population parameters,
such as μ (mu) for the mean and σ (sigma) for the standard deviation.
• A statistic is a characteristic of a sample.
• If you collect a sample and calculate the mean and standard deviation,
these are sample statistics.
• The following GPA score of 30 High School students. Find the
sample mean and standard deviation.
• 3.1, 2.9, 2.8, 2.9, 3.8, 4.8, 4.2, 3.9, 3.4, 2.5, 4.2, 3.7, 3.3, 2.1,
3.8, 3.0, 3.7, 4.0, 2.7, 3.8, 3.2, 3.5, 3.5, 3.6, 2.2, 3.1, 3.5, 4.0,
2.7, 4.5.
• Consider the following three data sets A, B and C.
A = {9,10,11,7,13}
B = {10,10,10,10,10}
C = {1,1,10,19,19}
a) Calculate the mean of each data set.
b) Calculate the standard deviation of each data set.
c) Which set has the largest standard deviation?
Sampling Error
• Sampling error is the difference between a statistic and
parameter (i.e., the difference between the sample and the
population).
• The best way to reduce sampling error is to increase the
sample size.