Sampling

What is sampling?
When field studies are undertaken in practical life, considerations of time and cost almost invariably lead to a selection of respondents i.e., selection of only a few items. The respondents selected should be as representative of the total population as possible in order to produce a miniature cross-section. The selected respondents constitute what is technically called a sample and the selection process is called sampling technique.

IMPLICATIONS OF A SAMPLE DESIGN

A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting items for the sample. Sample design may as well lay down the number of items to be included in the sample i.e., the size of the sample. Sample design is determined before data are collected. There are many sample designs from which a researcher can choose. Some designs are relatively more precise and easier to apply than others. Researcher must select/prepare a sample design which should be reliable and appropriate for his research study.

STEPS IN SAMPLE DESIGN

Type of universe Sampling unit Source list Size of sample Parameters of interest Budgetary constraint Sampling procedure

CRITERIA OF SELECTING A SAMPLING PROCEDURE

Inappropriate sampling frame Defective measuring device Non-respondents Indeterminancy principle Natural bias in the reporting of data

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SAMPLE DESIGN

Sample design must result in a truly representative sample Sample design must be such which results in a small sampling error Sample design must be viable in the context of funds available for the research study Sample design must be such so that systematic bias can be controlled in a better way Sample should be such that the results of the sample study can be applied, in general, for the universe with a reasonable level of confidence.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SAMPLE DESIGNS

 How to select a random sample?

Systematic sampling
The most practical way of sampling is to select every ith item on a list. Sampling of this type is known as systematic sampling. First element is selected randomly and remaining by systematic way. Advantages
It can be taken as an improvement over a simple random sample in as much as the systematic sample is spread more evenly over the entire population It is an easier and less costlier method of sampling and can be conveniently used even in case of large populations.

Disadvantages
If there is a hidden periodicity in the population, systematic sampling will prove to be an inefficient method of sampling.

In practice, systematic sampling is used when lists of population are available and they are of considerable length.

Stratified sampling
If a population from which a sample is to be drawn does not constitute a homogeneous group, stratified sampling technique is generally applied in order to obtain a representative sample. Under stratified sampling the population is divided into several sub-populations that are individually more homogeneous than the total population (the different sub-populations are called strata) and then we select items from each stratum to constitute a sample.

Stratified sampling
How to form strata?
on the basis of common characteristics

How should items be selected from each stratum?

simple random sampling or systematic sampling

How many items be selected from each stratum or how to allocate the sample size of each stratum?
By the method of proportional allocation under which the sizes of the samples from the different strata are kept proportional to the sizes of the strata.

Example
If Pi represents the proportion of population included in stratum i, and n represents the total sample size, the number of elements selected from stratum i is n . Pi. let us suppose that we want a sample of size n = 30 to be drawn from a population of size N = 8000 which is divided into three strata of size N1 = 4000, N2 = 2400 and N3 = 1600.

Adopting proportional allocation, For strata with N1 = 4000, P1 = 4000/8000 n1 = n . P1 = 30 (4000/8000) = 15 Similarly, for strata with N2 = 2400, n2 = n . P2 = 30 (2400/8000) = 9, for strata with N3 = 1600, n3 = n . P3 = 30 (1600/8000) = 6.

 In case the purpose happens to be to compare the differences among the strata, then equal sample selection from each stratum would be more efficient even if the strata differ in sizes. In cases where strata differ not only in size but also in variability and it is considered reasonable to take larger samples from the more variable strata and smaller samples from the less variable strata, we can then account for both (differences in stratum size and differences in stratum variability) by using disproportionate sampling design by requiring: n1/N1s1 = n2 /N2s2 = ......... = nk /Nksk
where s1, s2 , ... and sk denote the standard deviations of the k strata, N1, N2,, Nk denote the sizes of the k strata and n1, n2,, nk denote the sample sizes of k strata.

This is called optimum allocation in the context of disproportionate sampling The allocation in such a situation results in the following formula for determining the sample sizes different strata:

Example
A population is divided into three strata so that N1 = 5000, N2 = 2000 and N3 = 3000. Respective standard deviations are: s1 = 15, s2 = 18 and s3 = 5. How should a sample of size n = 84 be allocated to the three strata, if we want optimum allocation using disproportionate sampling design?

 In addition to differences in stratum size and differences in stratum variability, we may have differences in stratum sampling cost, then we can have cost optimal disproportionate sampling design by requiring

where C1 = Cost of sampling in stratum 1 C2 = Cost of sampling in stratum 2 Ck = Cost of sampling in stratum k

 The allocation in such a situation results in the following formula for determining the sample sizes for different strata:

Cluster sampling
If the total area of interest happens to be a big one, a convenient way in which a sample can be taken is to divide the area into a number of smaller non-overlapping areas and then to randomly select a number of these smaller areas (usually called clusters), with the ultimate sample consisting of all (or samples of) units in these small areas or clusters.

Area sampling
If clusters happen to be some geographic subdivisions, in that case cluster sampling is better known as area sampling

Multi-stage sampling
Multi-stage sampling is a further development of the principle of cluster sampling. For example :- investigate literacy review of India

Sampling with probability proportional to size

In case the cluster sampling units do not have the same number or approximately the same number of elements, it is considered appropriate to use a random selection process where the probability of each cluster being included in the sample is proportional to the size of the cluster.
list the number of elements in each cluster irrespective of the method of ordering the cluster sample systematically the appropriate number of elements from the cumulative totals

Example
The following are the number of departmental stores in 15 cities: 35, 17, 10, 32, 70, 28, 26, 19, 26, 66, 37, 44, 33, 29 and 28. If we want to select a sample of 10 stores, using cities as clusters and selecting within clusters proportional to size, how many stores from each city should be chosen? (Use a starting point of 10).