S3 Revision Notes

 Population – A whole set of items that are of interest

 Census – Observes/measures every member of a population

o Only used if:
 Size of population is small
 Extreme accuracy is required
 Sample – Selection of observations taken from a sub-set of a population, which is used to find
out information about the population as a whole, known as a sample survey

Advantages Disadvantages
Census  Should give an accurate result  Very expensive
 Time consuming
 Cannot be used when
testing is for destruction
Sample Survey  Costs less than a census  Data may not be as
 Results are obtained quicker accurate
 Less data to deal with  Sample may not be large
enough to give a true
representation

 (Simple) Random sampling – Sample where every possible sample of size n has an equal chance
of being selected
 Sampling frame – Is a list identifying every single sampling unit that could be included in the
sample

Advantages Disadvantages
 Cheap to do  Not suitable when population is large
 Simple to do  Sampling frame is required
 Each person is included only once

 Random number sampling – Each element is given a number to identify it and the numbers of
the required elements are selected by using random number tables or other random number
generators

Advantages Disadvantages
 Numbers are random and free from bias  Not suitable when population is large
 Easy to use

 Lottery sampling – Each element of the population is identified by some characteristic such as a
name or number, which is put on a ticket. All tickets (same size and shape) are put into a
container and drawn one at a time (without replacement). Elements of the population
corresponding to the tickets are selected

Advantages Disadvantages
 Tickets are drawn at random  Not suitable when population is large
 Easy to use  A sampling frame is needed
 Every ticket has a known chance of being
selected
S3 Revision Notes

 Systematic sampling – The required elements are chosen at regular intervals from an ordered
list
o Interval = population size (N) / sample size (n)
o Used when population is too large for simple random number sampling

Advantages Disadvantages
 Simple to use  Only random is ordered list is truly random
 Suitable for large samples  Can lead to bias

 Stratified sampling – Population is divided into mutually exclusive strata and a random sample is
taken from each
o The proportion of the strata in the sample is the same as the proportion of the strata in
the population
o Number sampled in a stratum = (number in stratum/number in population) x overall
sample size
o Used when sample is large and population naturally divides into mutually exclusive
groups

Advantages Disadvantages
 Can give more accurate estimates than  Strata could overlap is they are not defined
random sampling where a there are clear clearly
strata present
 Reflects the population structure

 Quota sampling – The population is divided into groups in terms of gender, etc. The number of
people in each group is set to try and reflect the group’s proportion in the whole population. The
interviewer selects the actual sampling units

Advantages Disadvantages
 Enables field work to be done quickly  Not possible to estimate the sampling
 Costs are kept low errors
 Administering the test is easy  Can introduce interviewer bias in who is
included

 Primary data – Data collected by, or on behalf of, the person who is going to use the data
 Secondary data – Data that is neither collected by, nor on behalf of, the person who is going to
use the data. The data is second hand

Type of data Advantages Disadvantages

Primary data  Collection method is  Costly in time and effort
known
 Accuracy is known
 Exact data needed are
collected
Secondary data  Cheap to obtain  Bias is not always
 Large quantity of data is recognised
available  Difficult form to deal with
 Data may have been
collected for years (easier
to plot trends)
S3 Revision Notes