A sample is a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied to gain information about the whole population

people.. set of respondents selected from a larger... A population is a group of individuals persons, objects, or items from which samples are taken for measurement for example a population of professors, or students or books.

Sampling is the act, process, or technique of selecting a suitable sample, or a representative part of a population for the purpose of determining parameters or characteristics of the whole population.

To draw conclusions about populations.... to determine characteristics..... We obtain a sample rather than a complete enumeration (a census ) of the population for many reasons..but we should prepare ourselves to cope with the dangers of using samples. There are various kinds of sampling procedures. Some are better than others but all may yield samples that are inaccurate and unreliable.

Economy Timeliness The large size of many populations Inaccessibility of some of the pop. Destructiveness of the observation Accuracy

Sampling error: Diff. btw. Sample n pop.

to a particular unit..e.g. height

Solely

Two basic causes of Error:

Chancebecause of bad luck Bias.to favour the of unit to have particular characteristics

Sampling bias:
Poor sampling plan..most notable is the non response

Non sampling error:

solely from the manner in which the observations are made. E.g. measurement due malfunctioning of instrument or poor procedure..

The interviewers effect:

Manner in which question is formulated Individuals tend to provide false answers to a particular question age

The respondents effect:

To impress the interviewer.most difficult to prevnt.

Knowing the study purpose:

What is your income

Induced bias:
Personal prejudices.. Designer or data collector

There are three primary kinds of samples:

the convenience, the judgment sample, and the random sample. They differ in the manner in which the elementary units are chosen

The convenient sample A convenience sample results when the more convenient elementary units are chosen from a population for observation. The judgment sample A judgment sample is obtained according to the discretion of someone who is familiar with the relevant characteristics of the population. The random sample This may be the most important type of sample. A random sample allows a known probability that each elementary unit will be chosen. For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as a probability sample.

A simple random sample: Each unit has equal chance

of being selected

A systematic random sample: A stratified sample: A cluster sample:

Selecting one unit on a random basis and choosing additional units at evenly spaced intervals..e.g 100 students20 to be selected simple random sample from each stratum..e.g.SES , education, income etc Clusters from the population on the basis of simple random selection.. e.g.State..Schools..teachersopinions

Can be classified as either:

1. Probability 2. Non-probability
Probability: each member of the population has a probability of being selected..e.g. random, systematic, stratified sampling Non-Probability: members are selected from the pop. In some non-random manner..e.g. convenience, judgment, quota sampling.