POPULATION

a research population is
generally a large collection
of individuals or objects
that is the main focus of a
scientific query
can be defined as including
all people or items with the
characteristic one wishes to
understand.
SAMPLING FRAME
 a listing of every member of the population, using the
sampling criteria to define membership in the population.
 a database of potential respondents that can be drawn
from to invite to take part in a given research project.
o Customer lists
o Government Registers
o Purchased telephone numbers and/or email addresses.
SAMPLING IN RESEARCH
In research terms a sample is a group of people, objects, or
items that are taken from a larger population for
measurement.
The process of drawing a number of individual cases from
a larger population
A way to learn about a larger population by obtaining
information from a subset of a larger population
Example:
The local television station conducted a study of TV viewers in the
local viewing region. A list of all residential customers who
subscribed to cable TV was obtained from the cable company. The
list had 200,000 households as subscribers. The TV station samples
every 40th household on the subscriber list. An interviewer visited
each household and conducted the survey on viewing habits of
household members.
PURPOSE OF SAMPLING
The large size of many population
Improve data quality
Inaccessibility of some of the population
Destructiveness of the observation
Accuracy
WHEN IS SAMPLING UNNECESSARY?
The number of things we want to sample is small
Data is easily accessible
Data quality is unaffected by the number of things we look
at
1. SAMPLING ERROR
 The errors comprises differences between the sample and the
population.
Two types of sampling errors
1. Biased error – due to selection of sampling techniques; size of the
sample.
2. Unbiased errors / random sampling errors – differences
between the members of the population included or not included.
METHODS OF REDUCING SAMPLING ERROR
1. Specific problem selection.
2. Systematic documentation of related research.
3. Effective enumeration.
4. Effective pre testing.
5. Controlling methodological bias.
6. Selection of appropriate sampling techniques.
2. NON-SAMPLING ERROR
 The errors which refers to biases and mistakes in selection of
sample.
Causes of Non-sampling errors
1. Sampling operations
2. Inadequate response
3. Misunderstanding the concept
4. Lack of knowledge
5. Concealment of the truth.
6. Loaded questions
7. Processing errors
8. Sample size
SAMPLE SIZE DEFINITION
 this is the sub-population to be studied in order to make
an inference to a reference population
 the number of subjects that should be included within a
sample.
SAMPLE SIZE VARIABLES BASED ON TARGET
POPULATION
1. Population Size - How many total people fit your demographic.
2. Margin of Error (Confidence Interval) - must decide how much
error to allow.
3. Confidence Level - How confident do you want to be that the
actual mean falls within your confidence interval
4. Standard of Deviation - How much variance do you expect in
your responses
SAMPLE SIZE FORMULA
When the mean is given:
Necessary Sample Size = (Z-score) 2 * StdDev*(1-StdDev) / (margin of
error) 2
Assuming you chose a 95% confidence level, .5 standard deviation, and a
margin of error (confidence interval) of +/- 5%.
Your confidence level corresponds to a Z-score. This is a constant value
needed for this equation.
o 90% – Z Score = 1.645
o 95% – Z Score = 1.96
o 99% – Z Score = 2.576
SAMPLE SIZE FORMULA
Necessary Sample Size = (Z-score) 2 * StdDev*(1-StdDev) / (margin of
error) 2

= ((1.96) 2 x .5(.5)) / (.05) 2

= (3.8416 x .25) / .0025
= .9604 / .0025
= 384.16
= 385 respondents are needed
SAMPLE SIZE FORMULA
When you have no idea of the population behavior:
n = N / (1 + Ne2)
n = Number of samples
N = Total population
e = Margin Error
= 1,000 / (1 + 1000 * 0.05 2) = 285.714286
= 285.714286 or 286
REFERENCES
https://www.thh.nhs.uk/documents/_Departments/Research/InfoSheets/16_sampling_research.pdf

file:///C:/Users/admin/Desktop/MBA/br-140221062942-phpapp02.pdf

https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/research/determine-sample-size/

https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/calculating-sample-size/

https://explorable.com/research-population

https://www.dummies.com/education/math/statistics/how-to-calculate-a-confidence-interval-for-a-
population-mean-when-you-know-its-standard-deviation/

https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/how-to-use-slovins-formula/