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Determining Sample Size

To calculate sample size, you need to determine: 1) Population size and characteristics 2) Acceptable margin of error or confidence interval 3) Confidence level (usually 95%) Using these values along with the standard deviation and a statistical formula, you can calculate the needed sample size to generalize results to the target population within the desired confidence level and margin of error. The example calculates a sample size of 385 for a population with a 95% confidence level and +/-5% margin of error. Proper sample size determination is essential for making valid statistical inferences.

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Elizabeth Bepeh
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492 views10 pages

Determining Sample Size

To calculate sample size, you need to determine: 1) Population size and characteristics 2) Acceptable margin of error or confidence interval 3) Confidence level (usually 95%) Using these values along with the standard deviation and a statistical formula, you can calculate the needed sample size to generalize results to the target population within the desired confidence level and margin of error. The example calculates a sample size of 385 for a population with a 95% confidence level and +/-5% margin of error. Proper sample size determination is essential for making valid statistical inferences.

Uploaded by

Elizabeth Bepeh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Determining Sample Size

By

Dr Ekaete Asuquo
Introduction
• Sample size determination is the act of choosing the number
of observations or replicates to include in a statistical
sample.

• The sample size is an important feature of any empirical study


in which the goal is to make inferences about
a population from a sample.

• Before you can calculate a sample size, you need to


determine a few things about the target population and the
sample you need:
Key things to Note Before Calculating sample size
• Population Size — How many total people fit your demographic? For
instance, if you want to know about mothers living in the Uganda, your
population size would be the total number of mothers living in the Uganda.
Don’t worry if you are unsure about this number. It is common for the
population to be unknown or approximated.

• Margin of Error (Confidence Interval) — No sample will be perfect, so you


need to decide how much error to allow. The confidence interval determines
how much higher or lower than the population mean you are willing to let
your sample mean fall. If you’ve ever seen a political poll on the news, you’ve
seen a confidence interval. It will look something like this: “68% of voters said
yes to Proposition Z, with a margin of error of +/- 5%.”
Key things to Note Before Calculating sample size
• Confidence Level — How confident do you want to be that
the actual mean falls within your confidence interval?
• The most common confidence intervals are 90% confident,
95% confident, and 99% confident.

• Standard of Deviation — How much variance do you expect


in your responses?
• Since we haven’t actually administered our survey yet, the
safe decision is to use .5 this is the most forgiving number
and ensures that your sample will be large enough.
Sample size Calculation
• Your confidence level corresponds to a Z-score. This is a
constant value needed for this equation. Here are the z-
scores for the most common confidence levels:
• 90% – Z Score = 1.645
• 95% – Z Score = 1.96
• 99% – Z Score = 2.576
•
• Insert the values of your Z-score, Standard of Deviation, and
confidence interval into this equation:
• Sample Size = (Z-score)2 Std. (1-Std) / (margin of error)2
Sample size Calculation
• Example assuming you chose a 95% confidence level, .5 standard
deviation, and a margin of error (confidence interval) of +/- 5%.
• ((1.96)2 x .5(.5)) / (.05)2
(3.8416 x .25) / .0025
.9604 / .0025
384.16
385 respondents are needed
• If you find your sample size is too large to handle, try slightly
decreasing your confidence level or increasing your margin of error –
this will increase the chance for error in your sampling, but it can
greatly decrease the number of responses you need.
Sample size calculation for cross sectional studies/surveys
• Cross sectional studies or cross sectional survey are done to estimate a
population parameter like prevalence of some disease in a community or
finding the average value of some quantitative variable in a population
• N= z2α pq
d2
• N = The desired sample size
• Z α = the alpha level of confidence interval (99% =2.56;
95% =1.96, these values are standardized normal distribution
• corresponding to stated confidence level).
• P - Proportion of occurrence
• q = (1-P) Proportion of non-occurrence
• D - Precision required
Note: If P and q are not known from previous studies, then use 50% for both as
these are the values that will give the highest sample size.
Sample size Calculation
• EXAMPLE; A planning company wishes to know in a geographical region what
proportion of patient admitted to the trauma hospital are discharged dead? A
95% confidence level is required and 5% precision. The proportion of occurrence
from evidence is 20%. How large should the sample size be?
• Solution:
N= z2α pq
d2
zα = (1.96=2) 95% Confidence interval
P = 20% (0.20)
q = (1 -P),0.80
d = (5%) , 0.05
Therefore
2x
0.2x 0.8 = 256
2
(0.05)2
• The sample size would be as large as 256

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