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Stratified Vs Cluster Sampling

The document discusses different sampling methods used in statistics including probability sampling, non-probability sampling, stratified sampling, and cluster sampling. It explains that stratified sampling divides a population into subgroups or strata and samples elements from each strata, allowing characteristics of subgroups to be examined. Cluster sampling selects clusters randomly from a population and is more cost-effective than stratified sampling for very large populations. The document also provides an example of when stratified sampling would be preferable to cluster sampling.

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261 views3 pages

Stratified Vs Cluster Sampling

The document discusses different sampling methods used in statistics including probability sampling, non-probability sampling, stratified sampling, and cluster sampling. It explains that stratified sampling divides a population into subgroups or strata and samples elements from each strata, allowing characteristics of subgroups to be examined. Cluster sampling selects clusters randomly from a population and is more cost-effective than stratified sampling for very large populations. The document also provides an example of when stratified sampling would be preferable to cluster sampling.

Uploaded by

jemima
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Zikmund et al.

(2009) define sampling as “a procedure that uses a small number of units

of a given population as a basis for drawing conclusions about the whole population” (p. 409). It

can be noted that sampling in statistics takes on two forms they are; probability sampling and

non-probability sampling. Probability sampling is a technique used where all individuals in the

population have equal likelihood of being selected to make up the sample, whereas non-

probability sampling is selected based on judgement.

Stratified sampling is a method of sampling which involves dividing a population into

different segments known as strata. Sampling is performed on elements of each strata. The main

advantage of stratified sampling is that it highlights different characteristics of a population in

the sample and enhances precision of the results (Hayes, 2019). Cluster sampling on the other

hand is a sampling method in which numerous clusters of individuals are created from the target

population. Some of these clusters are then selected randomly for sampling. This type of

sampling is proven to be cost- effective and offers convenience.

Cluster sampling is mainly used in place of stratified sampling when the target population

is too large to compile and would be impractical to perform a research on an entire population

(Crossman, 2019). Hence, it is more profitable and time convenient to allocate resources to a few

clusters that is selected to make up the sample for testing. For example, cluster sampling is

typically used in market research. It’s used when a researcher cannot get information about the

entire population, but they can get information about the clusters. For example, a researcher may

be interested in data about city taxes in Florida. The researcher would compile data from selected

cities and compile them to get a picture about the state. The individual cities would be the

clusters in this case.


Researchers normally use stratified sampling techniques to examine subgroups in a population.

Stratified sampling is preferred over cluster sampling when the sample size is very small. This is

more cost-effective and eliminates any occurrence of sampling errors. Stratified sampling is also

used over cluster sampling when the researcher is anticipating precise results. This means that

stratified sampling provides a true representation of the population rather than cluster sampling

(Rouse, 2015). One typical example where stratified sampling is the best choice is, let us say that

you were a researcher interested in studying the income of American college graduates one year

after graduation. The population that you are interested in is American college graduates.

A population consists of all members of a defined group who possess specific characteristics that

you are interested in studying.

You find out that each year there are over 1,750,000 people graduating from college, which

means that your population size is almost two million! It's impossible for your research team to

collect data from every member of your population, so you decide to collect data from a sample,

which is a subset of the population that is used to represent the whole population. You and your

research team decide that you want to take a sample of 3,000 American college graduates.

How do you choose your sample? You could choose a random sample, in which each member of

the population has the same chances of being selected for the sample.

Assume you chose a random sample of 3,000 college grads. You look at the demographics of

your sample participants and find that 2,034 are Caucasian, 832 are African-American, and 134

are Asian-American. You start to wonder if there are any differences in income one year after

graduation between the different racial subgroups. You also wonder if the demographics of your

sample are truly representative of the demographics of American college graduates. One way of

examining these questions is by using a stratified random sample.


References:

Crossman, A. (2019, February 9). When Should I Use a Cluster Sample? Retrieved from

https://www.thoughtco.com/cluster-sampling-3026725

Hayes, A. (2019, September 13). Reading Into Stratified Random Sampling. Retrieved from

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/stratified_random_sampling.asp

Rouse, E. (2015, June 9). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XFU1d9XIWM

Stratified Random Sampling. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.mathstopia.net/sampling/stratified-random-sampling-calculation

Understanding Stratified Samples and How to Make Them. (2019). Retrieved 23 September

2019, from https://www.thoughtco.com/stratified-sampling-3026731

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