Chapter 9

Sampling Distributions

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 Sampling Distributions…
A sampling distribution is created by, as the name suggests,
sampling.

The method we will employ on the rules of probability and

the laws of expected value and variance to derive the
sampling distribution.

For example, consider the roll of one and two dice…

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 Sampling Distribution of the Mean…
A fair die is thrown infinitely many times,
with the random variable X = # of spots on any throw.

The probability distribution of X is:

x 1 2 3 4 5 6
P(x) 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6

…and the mean and variance are calculated as well:

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 Sampling Distribution of Two Dice
A sampling distribution is created by looking at
all samples of size n=2 (i.e. two dice) and their means…

While there are 36 possible samples of size 2, there are only

11 values for , and some (e.g. =3.5) occur more
frequently than others (e.g. =1).
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 Sampling Distribution of Two Dice…
The sampling distribution of is shown below:
6/36
P( )
1.0 1/36 5/36
1.5 2/36
2.0 3/36
4/36
)
2.5 4/36
3.0 5/36
3/36
P(

3.5 6/36
4.0 5/36
4.5 4/36 2/36
5.0 3/36
5.5 2/36
6.0 1/36 1/36

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0

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 Compare…
Compare the distribution of X…

1 2 3 4 5 6 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0

…with the sampling distribution of .

As well, note that:

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 Generalize…
We can generalize the mean and variance of the sampling of
two dice:

…to n-dice:
The standard deviation of the
sampling distribution is
called the standard error:

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 Central Limit Theorem…
The sampling distribution of the mean of a random sample
drawn from any population is approximately normal for a
sufficiently large sample size.

The larger the sample size, the more closely the sampling
distribution of X will resemble a normal distribution.

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 Central Limit Theorem…
If the population is normal, then X is normally distributed
for all values of n.

If the population is non-normal, then X is approximately

normal only for larger values of n.

In many practical situations, a sample size of 30 may be

sufficiently large to allow us to use the normal distribution as
an approximation for the sampling distribution of X.

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 Sampling Distribution of the Sample Mean
1.

2.

3. If X is normal, X is normal. If X is nonnormal, X is

approximately normal for sufficiently large sample sizes.
Note: the definition of “sufficiently large” depends on the
extent of nonnormality of x (e.g. heavily skewed;
multimodal)

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 Finite Populations…
Statisticians have shown that the mean of the sampling distribution is
always equal to the mean of the population and that the standard error
is equal to σ / n for infinitely large populations. However, if the
population is finite the standard error is
σ N−n
σx =
n N −1
where N is the population size and
N−n
N −1

is called the finite population correction factor. If the population size

is large relative to the sample size the finite population correction
factor is close to 1 and can be ignored.

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 Finite Populations…
As a rule of thumb we will treat any population that is at
least 20 times larger than the sample size as large. In practice
most applications involve populations that qualify as large.
As a consequence the finite population correction factor is
usually omitted.

There are several applications that deal with small

populations. Section 12.5 introduces one of these
applications.

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 Example 9.1(a)…
The foreman of a bottling plant has observed that the amount
of soda in each “32-ounce” bottle is actually a normally
distributed random variable, with a mean of 32.2 ounces and
a standard deviation of .3 ounce.

If a customer buys one bottle, what is the probability that the

bottle will contain more than 32 ounces?

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 Example 9.1(a)…
We want to find P(X > 32), where X is normally distributed
and =32.2 and =.3

“there is about a 75% chance that a single bottle of soda

contains more than 32oz.”

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 Example 9.1(b)…
The foreman of a bottling plant has observed that the amount
of soda in each “32-ounce” bottle is actually a normally
distributed random variable, with a mean of 32.2 ounces and
a standard deviation of .3 ounce.

If a customer buys a carton of four bottles, what is the

probability that the mean amount of the four bottles will be
greater than 32 ounces?

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 Example 9.1(b)…
We want to find P(X > 32), where X is normally distributed
with =32.2 and =.3

Things we know:
1) X is normally distributed, therefore so will X.

2) = 32.2 oz.

3)

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 Example 9.1(b)…
If a customer buys a carton of four bottles, what is the
probability that the mean amount of the four bottles will be
greater than 32 ounces?

“There is about a 91% chance the mean of the four bottles

will exceed 32oz.”

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 Graphically Speaking…
mean=32.2

what is the probability that one bottle will what is the probability that the mean of
contain more than 32 ounces? four bottles will exceed 32 oz?

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 Chapter-Opening Example…
The dean of the School of Business claims that the average salary of
the school’s graduates one year after graduation is $800 per week with
a standard deviation of $100. A second-year student would like to
check whether the claim about the mean is correct. He does a survey of
25 people who graduated one year ago and determines their weekly
salary. He discovers the sample mean to be $750. To interpret his
finding he needs to calculate the probability that a sample of 25
graduates would have a mean of $750 or less when the population
mean is $800 and the standard deviation is $100.

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 Chapter-Opening Example…
The picture can't be displayed.

We want to compute

P( X < 750)
Although X is likely skewed it is likely that X
is normally distributed. The mean of X is

µ x = µ = 800
The standard deviation is
σ x = σ / n = 100 / 25 = 20

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 Chapter-Opening Example…
 X − µ x 750 − 800 
P( X < 750) = P < 

 σ x 20 
= P( Z < − 2.5) = .5 − P(0 < Z < 2.5) = .5 − .4938 = .0062

The probability of observing a sample mean as low as $750 when the

population mean is $800 is extremely small. Because the event is quite
unlikely, we would conclude that the dean’s claim is not justified.

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 Standardizing the Sample Mean…
The sampling distribution can be used to make inferences
about population parameters. In order to do so, the sample
mean can be standardized to the standard normal distribution
using the following formulation:

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 Another Way to State the Probability…
In Chapter 8 we saw that

P(-1.96 < Z < 1.96) = .95

From the sampling distribution of the mean we have

X −µ
Z=
σ/ n

Substituting this definition of Z in the probability statement we

produce
X −µ
P(−1.96 < < 1.96) = .95
σ/ n

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 Another Way to State the Probability…
With a little algebra we rewrite the probability statement as
 σ σ 
P µ − 1.96 < X < µ + 1.96  = .95
 n n
Similarly
 σ σ 
P µ − 1.645 < X < µ + 1.645  = .90
 n n

In general
 σ σ 
P µ − z α / 2 < X < µ + zα / 2  = 1 − α
 n n

All are probability statements about X, which we’ll use in

statistical inference

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 Return to the Chapter-Opening Example…
Substituting µ = 800, σ = 100, n = 25, and α = .05, we get
 σ σ 
P µ − z .025 < X < µ + z .025  = 1 − .05
 n n
 100 100 
= P 800 − 1.96 < X < 800 + 1.96  = .95
 25 25 
(
= P 760.8 < X < 839.2 = .95 )
This is another way of checking the dean’s claim. The probability that
X falls between 760.8 and 839.2 is 95%. It is unlikely that we
would observe a sample mean as low as $750 when the population
mean is $800.

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 Sampling Distribution of a Proportion…
The estimator of a population proportion of successes is the
sample proportion. That is, we count the number of
successes in a sample and compute:

(read this as “p-hat”).

X is the number of successes, n is the sample size.

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 Normal Approximation to Binomial…
Binomial distribution with n=20 and p=.5 with a normal
approximation superimposed ( =10 and =2.24)

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 Normal Approximation to Binomial…
Binomial distribution with n=20 and p=.5 with a normal
approximation superimposed ( =10 and =2.24)

where did these values come from?!

From §7.6 we saw that:

Hence:
and
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 Normal Approximation to Binomial…
Normal approximation to the binomial works best when the
number of experiments, n, (sample size) is large, and the
probability of success, p, is close to 0.5

For the approximation to provide good results two

conditions should be met:
1) np ≥ 5
2) n(1–p) ≥ 5

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 Normal Approximation to Binomial…
To calculate P(X=10) using the
normal distribution, we can find
the area under the normal curve
between 9.5 & 10.5

P(X = 10) ≈ P(9.5 < Y < 10.5)

where Y is a normal random variable approximating

the binomial random variable X

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 Normal Approximation to Binomial…
In fact:
P(X = 10) = .176
while
P(9.5 < Y < 10.5) = .1742
the approximation is quite good.

P(X = 10) ≈ P(9.5 < Y < 10.5)

where Y is a normal random variable approximating

the binomial random variable X

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 Sampling Distribution of a Sample Proportion…
Using the laws of expected value and variance, we can
determine the mean, variance, and standard deviation of .
(The standard deviation of is called the standard error of
the proportion.)

Sample proportions can be standardized to a standard normal

distribution using this formulation:

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 Sampling Distribution: Difference of two means
The final sampling distribution introduced is that of the
difference between two sample means. This requires:

 independent random samples be drawn from each of two

normal populations

If this condition is met, then the sampling distribution of the

difference between the two sample means, i.e.
will be normally distributed.
(note: if the two populations are not both normally
distributed, but the sample sizes are “large” (>30), the
distribution of is approximately normal)

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 Sampling Distribution: Difference of two means
The expected value and variance of the sampling
distribution of are given by:

mean:

standard deviation:

(also called the standard error if the difference between two

means)
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 Example 9.3…
Since the distribution of is normal and has a

mean of

and a standard deviation of

We can compute Z (standard normal random variable) in this

way:

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 Example 9.3…
Starting salaries for MBA grads at two universities are
normally distributed with the following means and standard
deviations. Samples from each school are taken…
University 1 University 2
Mean 62,000 $/yr 60,000 $/yr
Std. Dev. 14,500 $/yr 18,300 $/yr
sample size n 50 60

What is the probability that the sample mean starting salary of

University #1 graduates will exceed that of the #2 grads?

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 Example 9.3…
“What is the probability that the sample mean starting salary
of University #1 graduates will exceed that of the #2 grads?”

We are interested in determining P(X1 > X2). Converting this

to a difference of means, what is: P(X1 – X2 > 0) ?

Z
“there is about a 74% chance that the sample mean
starting salary of U. #1 grads will exceed that of U. #2”
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