Chapter 10

Sampling

Reference Books for Sampling:

Research Methods for business students chapter-6 Research Methods for Graduate business and Social Science students Chapter - 5

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

Sampling
Sampling: the process of selecting a sufficient number of elements from the population, so that results from analyzing the sample are generalizable to the population.

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

Relevant Terms - 1
Population refers to the entire group of people, events, or things of interest that the researcher wishes to investigate. An element is a single member of the population. A sample is a subset of the population. It comprises some members selected from & Sons Ltd. 2009 John Wileyit.
www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

Relevant Terms - 2
Sampling unit(individuals, HH, city blocks etc.): the element or set of elements that is available for selection in some stage of the sampling process. A subject is a single member of the sample, just as an element is a single member of the population.
2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

Relevant Terms - 3
The characteristics of the population such as (the population mean), (the population standard deviation), and 2 (the population variance) are referred to as its parameters. The central tendencies, the dispersions, and other statistics in the sample of interest to the research are treated as approximations of the central tendencies, dispersions, and 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. other parameters of the population www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka Sample statistics.

Statistics versus Parameters

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

Advantages of Sampling
Less costs Less errors due to less fatigue Less time Destruction of elements avoided

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

The Sampling Process

Major steps in sampling:
Define the population. (e.g saving habits of blue collars employees in mining industry- population ?, reading habits of retired women in Punjab) Determine the sample frame (e.g list of population under study- telephone users list may not be latest) Determine the sampling design ( probability or Non probability sampling method- PS= known or non zero chances of being selected as sample of elements-generalizability NPS= when chances of being selected are not known, time constraint, generalizability is not priority) Determine the appropriate sample size 8 (Research objectives, confidence interval, confidence

Sampling Techniques
1- Probability 2- nonprobability sampling Probability sampling: elements in the population have a known and non-zero chance of being chosen

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

Sampling Techniques
Probability Sampling
Simple Random Sampling Systematic Sampling Stratified Random Sampling Cluster Sampling

Nonprobability Sampling
Convenience Sampling Purposive Sampling
Judgment Sampling Quota Sampling

Snow Ball sampling

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

10

Simple Random Sampling

Procedure
Each element has a known and equal chance of being selected

Characteristics
Highly generalizable Easily understood Reliable population frame necessary

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

11

Systematic Sampling

Procedure
Each nth element, starting with random choice of an element between 1 and n

Characteristics
Idem simple random sampling Easier than simple random sampling Systematic biases when elements are not randomly listed

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

12

Stratified Sampling

Procedure
Divide of population in strata Include all strata Random selection of elements from strata
Proportionate Disproportionate

Characteristics
Interstrata heterogeneity Intrastratum homogeneity Includes all relevant subpopulations

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

13

Proportionate Disproportionate Stratified Sampling

Number of subjects in total sample is allocated among the strata proportional or disproportional to the relative number of elements in each stratum in the population Disproportionate case:
strata exhibiting more variability are sampled more than proportional to their relative size requires more knowledge of the population, not just relative sizes of strata

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

14

Proportionate and disproportionate Stratified Random Sampling

Top Management Number of Elements Proportionate Disproportiona Sampling (20% te Sampling of the Elements) 2 6 10 20 100 4 142 7 15 20 30 60 10 142

Middle Level Management Lower level Management Supervisors Clerks Secretaries TotalS

10 30 50 100 500 20 710

Cluster Sampling
Target population is divided into clusters then random sampling ( either simple or systematic) is done within the clusters. Cluster samples offer more homogeneity among groups and more heterogeneity within a group. It is least generalizable in probability sampling because clusters may or may not have heterogeneity. But this is cheapest sampling method. e.g. area sampling Multistage cluster sampling e.g. urban, semi urban and rural area sampling- location is selected then banks are selected. Random sampling s done to choose each unit at every stage in this type od sampling.

Non Probability Sampling

Convenience sampling=collection of information from members of the population who can provide it.
(e.g. Pepsi preference contest at shopping mall- shoppers are asked about ------------)This method is important during the exploratory stage of the project and perhaps best way of getting basic information

Purposive sampling= to get information from specific target groups. ( from specific group-who can
only provide relevant information-types as follows)

Judgment sampling( e.g. women at top management positions- fewer respondents available, PS is useless ) Quota sampling= it ensures that certain group are adequately represented I the study thorough the

Non Probability Sampling

Quota sampling is akin to proportionate stratified sampling white collar and blue collar workers difference assessment-60% blue collar and 40 % white collar people to be included in the sample but data is collected through convenient sampling.

Snowball sampling

Overview

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

19

Overview

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

20

Overview

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

21

Choice Points in Sampling Design

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

22

Tradeoff between precision and confidence

We can increase both confidence and precision by increasing the sample size

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

23

Sample size: guidelines

In general: Categories: Multivariate: Experiments:
2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

30 < n < 500 30 per subcategory 10 x number of vars 15 to 20 per condition

24

Sample Size for a Given Population Size

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

25

Sample Size for a Given

2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wileyeurope.com/college/seka

26