Part 3 - INFERENCE

Sampling Concepts

1
Introduction

Statistical inference is the process by which we

acquire information about populations from
samples.
There are two types of inference:
 Estimation
 Hypotheses testing

2
 IMPORTANCE OF SAMPLING

Sampling occurs frequently in the course of daily events

and should not be viewed as just a concept employed
solely by statisticians
The purpose of sampling is to provide sufficient
information so that inferences may be made concerning
the characteristics of the population
The goal in sampling is to select a portion of the
population which is normally representative of the
characteristics of the population
 ADVANTAGES
OF SAMPLING

Cost
Time
Accuracy of sample results
Other advantages
 destructive tests
 the nature of the population prevents complete
enumeration; a sample is required
 SAMPLE SELECTION
Judgment samples
Any sample based on someone’s expertise about the
population is known as a judgment or purposive sample
Probability or random samples
 Simple random sampling
 each possible sample combination has an equal
probability of occurrence
 each item in the population has an equal chance of being
included in the sample
 use of random numbers

 Stratified sampling
 Cluster sampling
 STRATIFIED SAMPLING

A stratified random sample is obtained by separating

the population into mutually exclusive sets, or strata,
and then drawing simple random samples from each
stratum
Examples of criteria for separating a population into
strata
 Gender
 Age
 Occupation
 Household income
 Religion
 CLUSTER SAMPLING

A cluster sample is a simple random sample of

groups or clusters of elements
Cluster sample is particularly useful when it is
difficult or costly to develop a complete list of the
population members. It is also useful whenever the
population elements are widely dispersed
geographically. Beware, cluster sampling increases
sampling error
 MAJOR TYPES OF ERROR
Sampling error
 Refers to differences between the sample and the population only
because of the observations that happened to be selected for the
sample
 Given a fixed sample size, we can state the probability than the
sampling error is less than a certain amount (i.e. correct to within 3
% points, 19 times out of 20)
Nonsampling error
 Mistakes made in the acquisition of data or improper sample
selection
 Nonresponse error due to lack of responses from members of the
sample
 Selection bias occurs when some members of the population
cannot be selected
 These errors create a larger concern because they cannot normally
be reduced by taking a larger sample
 SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF MEANS:
A PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR

In a population of size N, there are N!/(n!(N-n)!)

samples of size n
The variation in sample means is known as
sampling variation
The sampling distribution of means is the
distribution of the arithmetic means of all the
possible random samples of size n that could be
selected from a given population.
 MEAN OF THE
SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF MEANS
The mean of the sampling distribution of means is equal
to the population mean, i.e.
x  
 MEAN OF THE
SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF MEANS
The mean of the sampling distribution of means is equal
to the population mean, i.e.
x  

If the sample size is sufficiently large (n > 30), the

sampling distribution approximates the normal
distribution whether or not the population is normally
distributed
 MEAN OF THE
SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF MEANS
The mean of the sampling distribution of means is equal
to the population mean, i.e.
x  
 MEAN OF THE
SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF MEANS
The mean of the sampling distribution of means is equal
to the population mean, i.e.
x  

If the sample size is sufficiently large (n > 30), the

sampling distribution approximates the normal
distribution whether or not the population is normally
distributed
 MEAN OF THE
SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF MEANS
The mean of the sampling distribution of means is equal
to the population mean, i.e.
x  

If the sample size is sufficiently large (n > 30), the

sampling distribution approximates the normal
distribution whether or not the population is normally
distributed
The sampling distribution is normally distributed,
regardless of sample size, if the population is normally
distributed