LESSON SIX: SAMPLING AND SAMPLING DISTRIBUTIONS

6.1 Introduction
 The field of inferential or inductive statistics is concerned with studying facts about populations.
Specifically, the interest is in learning about the population parameters. This is accomplished by
picking a sample and computing the values of the appropriate statistics.
 A parameter is a numerical descriptive measure of a population. Because it is based on the
observation in the population, its value is almost always unknown.
 A Sample statistic is a numerical descriptive measure of a sample. It is calculated from the
observations in the sample.
NB: The term statistic refers to sample quantity and the term parameter refers to a population
quantity.
 Sampling is the process of selecting a sample from a population.

6.2 Types of sampling Designs

There are two major ways of selecting samples;
a) Probability sampling methods
b) Non - Probability sampling methods

a) Probability sampling methods

i) Simple random sampling
 Assumes that every member of the population has an equal chance of being independently
selected. All members of the population are labeled with a number and random numbers
should be used to select the sample.
 This is the best method of sampling as independence of sample members is assumed by
many statistical tests. Unfortunately all members of the population have to be available for
selection and this is rarely the case.
ii) Systematic sampling
 It is useful when the whole sampling frame is not available. The population is listed and
every nth member is included in the sample after the first has been selected randomly.
 Sampling from a production line may make use of this method.

1
iii) Stratified random sampling
 Useful when the population consists of a number of distinct subpopulations and there is no
difference between the subpopulations than within each of them.
 The population is split into these differing groups – strata. A random sub-sample is then
drawn from each, in proportion to the strata size.
iv) Cluster Sampling:
The population is divided into internally heterogeneous subgroups and some are randomly
selected for further study. It is used when it is not possible to obtain a sampling frame
because the population is either very large or scattered over a large geographical area.

b) Non-probability sampling
It is used when a researcher is not interested in selecting a sample that is representative of the
population.
i) Purposive Sampling
It allows the researcher to use cases that have the required information with respect to the
objectives of his or her study e.g. educational level, age group, religious sect etc.
ii) Quota Sampling
The researcher purposively selects subjects to fit the quotas identified e.g. Gender: Male or
Female; Class Level: Graduate or Undergraduate; Religion: Muslim, Protestant, catholic,
Jewish; Social economic class: Upper, middle or lower.
iii) Snow ball sampling
It is used when the population that possesses the characteristics under study is not well
known and can be best located through referral networks. Initial subjects are identified who
in turn identify others. Commonly used in drug cultures, teenage gang activities, Mungiki
sect, insider trading, Mau Mau etc.
iv) Convenience or Accidental Sampling
Involves selecting cases or units of observation as they become available to the researcher
e.g. asking a question to the radio listeners, roommates or neighbours.

6.3 Reasons for Sampling

We obtain a sample rather than a complete enumeration (a census) of the population for many
reasons. There are six main reasons for sampling in lieu of the census.

2
i) Economy: Directly observing only a portion of the population requires fewer resources than a
census.
ii) The Time factor: A sample may provide an investigator with needed information quickly
iii) The very large populations: Many populations about which inferences must be made are quite
large and sample evidence may be the only way to obtain information.
iv) Partly inaccessible populations: Some populations contain elementary units so difficult to
observe that they are in a sense inaccessible e.g. in determining consumer attitudes not all of the
users of a product can be queried.
v) The Destructive nature of the observation: Sometimes the very act of observing the desired
characteristics of the elementary unit destroys it for the use intended. Classical examples of this
occur in quality control
vi) Accuracy and sampling: A sample may be more accurate than a census. A sloppily conducted
census can provide less reliable information than a carefully obtained sample.

6.4 Bias and Error in sampling

A sample is expected to mirror the population from which it comes from. However, there is no
guarantee that any sample will be precisely representative of the population. One of the things
that make a sample unrepresentative of its population is the sampling error.

Sampling error: It comprises the difference between the sample and the population that are due
solely to the particular elementary units that happen to have been selected.
There are two basic causes for sampling error.
 One is Chance: Bad luck may result in untypical choices. Unusual elementary units do
exists, and there is always a possibility that an abnormally large number of them will be
chosen. The main protection against this type of error is to use a large enough sample.
 Another cause of sampling error is sampling bias. This is the tendency to favor the selection
of elementary units that have particular characteristics. Sampling bias is usually the result of
a poor sampling plan.
Non sampling error
 The other main cause of unrepresentative samples is non sampling error. This type can occur
whether a census or a sample is being used.

3
 A non-sampling error is an error that results solely from the manner in which the observations
are made. The simplest example of non sampling error is inaccurate physical measurement due
to faulty instruments or poor procedures. Consider the observation of human weights – no 2
answers will be of equal reliability.

6.5 Sampling Distributions

 By sampling distribution of a statistic we mean the theoretical probability distribution of the
statistic.
6.6.1 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
 If samples of size n are drawn with replacement from a population with mean  and variance

2
 2 ,the mean and variance of the sampling distribution of x are given by  x   and  x2  .
n
 When random samples of size n are drawn without replacement from a finite population of size
N that has a mean  and a variance  2 , the mean and the variance of the sampling distribution
of x are given by
2 N n
x   and  
2

N 1
x
n
2
 If the population size is large compared to the sample size,  x2  , approximately
n
 The standard deviation of the sampling distribution of x is commonly known as the standard

error of the mean. It is when sampling with replacement. For a sample drawn without
n

 N n
replacement from a finite population of size N, the standard error of the mean is
n N 1

 In the latter case it is approximately if the population is very large compared to the sample
n

2
size. In our discussion, we shall assume that the population is large enough that can be taken
n
as the value of  x2 even when sampling without replacement.

 The standard error of the mean then depends on two quantities,  2 and n. It will be large if  2
is large, i.e. if the scatter in the parent population is large. On the other hand, the standard error

4
 will be small if the sample size n is large. Since with a larger sample we can get more
information about the population mean  and consequently less scatter of the sample mean
about  .
 The variance of the parent population is usually not under the experimenter’s control. Therefore
one sure way of reducing the standard error of the mean is by picking a large sample – the larger
the better.

 So for we have concerned ourselves with two parameters of the sampling distribution of
x    x and  x2  . We now turn our attention to the distribution itself

 The probability distribution of x will very much depend on the distribution of the sampled
population.
 Note that if n the sample size, is large, the distribution of x is close to a normal distribution
2
of course with mean  and variance . The statement of this result is contained in the central
n
limit theorem.

Central Limit Theorem

The distribution of the sample mean x of a random sample drawn from practically any
population with mean  and variance  2 can be approximated by means of a normal

2
distribution with mean  and variance , provided the sample size is large.
n
 The central limit theorem tells us that the shape of the distribution is approximately normal. We
2
already know that if the population has mean  and variance  2 , then  x   and  x2  .
n
 Converting to the z scale, we can give an alternate version of the central limit theorem.
x 
When the sample size is large, the distribution of is close to that of a standard

n
normal variable z.
(Recall that to convert to the z scale the rule is: subtract the mean and divide by the standard
deviation of the r.v in question)

5
 Since the central limit theorem applies if the sample size is large, a natural question is, how large
is large enough?
This will depend on the nature of the sampled population
 If the parent population is normally distributed, then the distribution of x is normal for
any sample size,
 If the parent population has a symmetric distribution, the approximation to the normal
distribution will be reached for a moderately small sample size, as low as 10.
 In most instances, the tendency towards normality is so strong that the approximation is fairly
satisfactory with a sample size of about 30.

Example 1
The records of the Dept of health, education and welfare show that the mean expenditure
incurred by a student during 2010 was $5000 and the standard deviation of the expenditure was
$800. Find the approximate probability that the mean expenditure of 64 students picked at
random was
a) More than $4820
b) Between $4800 and $5120

Example 2
The length of life (in hours) of a certain type of electric bulb is a random variable with a mean
life of 500 hours and a standard deviation of 35 hours.

What is the approximate probability that a random sample of 49 bulbs will have a mean life
between 488 and 505 hours?

6.6.2 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion

 If n items are picked independently from a population where the probability of success is p

(not very close to 0 or 1) and if n is large, then the distribution of the sample proportion x
n

is approximately normal with mean p and variance pq n where p  q  1 .

6
 x
p
 Converting to the z scale, it follows that n has a distribution that is very close to the
pq
n
x  np
standard normal distribution provided n is large. This leads to the conclusion that is
npq
distributed approximately as a standard normal variable.
Example 1
Suppose 10% of the tubes produced by a Machine are defective. If a sample of 100 tubes is
inspected at random
a) Find the expected proportion of defectives in the sample
b) Find the variance of the proportion of defective in the sample
c) Find the approximate distribution of the sample proportion
d) Find the probability that the proportion of defective will exceed 0.16
Example 2
If 60% of the population feels that the president is doing a satisfactory job, find the approximate
probability that in a sample of 900 people interviewed at random, the proportion who share this
view will
a) Exceed 0.65
b) Be less than 0.56