At the end of the lesson, I am expected to:

1. Define population, sample, probability and

non-probability sampling;
2. Identify the kind of sampling needed for
the study; and
3. Calculate the sample needed for the study.
A population is the entire group that you
want to draw conclusions about.

A sample is the specific group that you will

collect data from. The size of the sample is
always less than the total size of the
population.
In research, a population doesn’t
always refer to people. It can mean a
group containing elements of
anything you want to study, such as
objects, events, organizations,
countries, species, organisms, etc.
Populations are used when your research
question requires, or when you have access
to, data from every member of the
population.
Usually, it is only straightforward to collect
data from a whole population when it is
small, accessible and cooperative.
Collecting data from a population
A high school administrator wants to analyze
the final exam scores of all graduating
seniors to see if there is a trend. Since they
are only interested in applying their findings
to the graduating seniors in this high school,
they use the whole population dataset.
For larger and more dispersed populations, it
is often difficult or impossible to collect data
from every individual. For example, every 10
years, the Philippine government aims to
count every person living in the country
using the Census. This data is used to
distribute funding across the nation.
However, historically, marginalized and low-income
groups have been difficult to contact, locate and
encourage participation from. Because of non-
responses, the population count is incomplete and
biased towards some groups, which results in
disproportionate funding across the country.

In cases like this, sampling can be used to make more

precise inferences about the population.
When your population is large in size,
geographically dispersed, or difficult to
contact, it’s necessary to use a sample.
With statistical analysis, you can use
sample data to make estimates or test
hypotheses about population data.
You want to study political attitudes in young
people. Your population is the 300,000
undergraduate students in the Philippines.
Because it’s not practical to collect data from all
of them, you use a sample of 300 undergraduate
volunteers from three Philippine universities who
meet your inclusion criteria. This is the group who
will complete your online survey.
Ideally, a sample should be randomly
selected and representative of the
population. Using probability sampling
methods (such as simple random sampling
or stratified sampling) reduces the risk of
sampling bias and enhances both internal
and external validity.
For practical reasons, researchers often use non-
probability sampling methods. Non-probability
samples are chosen for specific criteria; they may
be more convenient or cheaper to access.
Because of non-random selection methods, any
statistical inferences about the broader population
will be weaker than with a probability sample.
Necessity
Practicality
Cost-effectiveness
Manageability
Necessity: Sometimes it’s simply not
possible to study the whole population due to
its size or inaccessibility.

Practicality: It’s easier and more efficient to

collect data from a sample.
Cost-effectiveness: There are fewer
participant, laboratory, equipment, and
researcher costs involved.

Manageability: Storing and running statistical

analyses on smaller datasets is easier and
reliable.
When you collect data from a population or a
sample, there are various measurements
and numbers you can calculate from the
data. A parameter is a measure that
describes the whole population. A statistic is
a measure that describes the sample.
You can use estimation or
hypothesis testing to estimate
how likely it is that a sample
statistic differs from the
population parameter.
In your study of students’ political attitudes, you ask
your survey participants to rate themselves on a scale
from 1, very liberal, to 7, very conservative. You find that
most of your sample identifies as liberal – the mean
rating on the political attitudes scale is 3.2.
You can use this statistic, the sample mean of 3.2, to
make a scientific guess about the population parameter
– that is, to infer the mean political attitude rating of all
undergraduate students in the Philippines.
A sampling error is the difference between a
population parameter and a sample statistic.
In your study, the sampling error is the
difference between the mean political
attitude rating of your sample and the true
mean political attitude rating of all
undergraduate students in the Philippines.
Sampling errors happen even when you use a randomly
selected sample. This is because random samples are
not identical to the population in terms of numerical
measures like means and standard deviations.

Because the aim of scientific research is to generalize

findings from the sample to the population, you want the
sampling error to be low. You can reduce sampling error
by increasing the sample size.
When you conduct research about a
group of people, it’s rarely possible to
collect data from every person in that
group. Instead, you select a sample. The
sample is the group of individuals who
will actually participate in the research.
To draw valid conclusions from your results,
you have to carefully decide how you will
select a sample that is representative of the
group as a whole. This is called a sampling
method. There are two primary types of
sampling methods that you can use in your
research:
Probability sampling involves
random selection, allowing
you to make strong statistical
inferences about the whole
group.
Non-probability sampling
involves non-random selection
based on convenience or other
criteria, allowing you to easily
collect data.
You should clearly explain how you
selected your sample in the
methodology section of your paper or
thesis, as well as how you
approached minimizing research bias
in your work.
First, you need to understand
the difference between a
population and a sample, and
identify the target population
of your research.
The population is the entire group that you
want to draw conclusions about.
The sample is the specific group of
individuals that you will collect data from.
The population can be defined in terms of
geographical location, age, income, or many
other characteristics.
It can be very broad or quite narrow: maybe you
want to make inferences about the whole adult
population of your country; maybe your research
focuses on customers of a certain company,
patients with a specific health condition, or
students in a single school.
It is important to carefully define your target
population according to the purpose and
practicalities of your project.
If the population is very large,
demographically mixed, and geographically
dispersed, it might be difficult to gain access
to a representative sample. A lack of a
representative sample affects the validity of
your results, and can lead to several
research biases, particularly sampling bias.
The sampling frame is the actual list
of individuals that the sample will be
drawn from. Ideally, it should include
the entire target population (and
nobody who is not part of that
population).
You are doing research on working
conditions at a social media marketing
company. Your population is all 1000
employees of the company. Your sampling
frame is the company’s HR database, which
lists the names and contact details of every
employee.
The number of individuals you should include
in your sample depends on various factors,
including the size and variability of the
population and your research design. There
are different sample size calculators and
formulas depending on what you want to
achieve with statistical analysis.
Probability sampling means that every
member of the population has a chance of
being selected. It is mainly used in
quantitative research. If you want to produce
results that are representative of the whole
population, probability sampling techniques
are the most valid choice.
 In a simple random sample, every member
of the population has an equal chance of
being selected. Your sampling frame should
include the whole population.
To conduct this type of sampling, you can use
tools like random number generators or
other techniques that are based entirely on
chance.
 EXAMPLE:
You want to select a simple random sample
of 1000 employees of a social media
marketing company. You assign a number to
every employee in the company database
from 1 to 1000, and use a random number
generator to select 100 numbers.
SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING is similar to simple
random sampling, but it is usually slightly
easier to conduct. Every member of the
population is listed with a number, but
instead of randomly generating numbers,
individuals are chosen at regular intervals.
EXAMPLE:
All employees of the company are listed in
alphabetical order. From the first 10
numbers, you randomly select a starting
point: number 6. From number 6 onwards,
every 10th person on the list is selected (6,
16, 26, 36, and so on), and you end up with a
sample of 100 people.
If you use this technique, it is important to make
sure that there is no hidden pattern in the list that
might skew the sample. For example, if the HR
database groups employees by team, and team
members are listed in order of seniority, there is a
risk that your interval might skip over people in
junior roles, resulting in a sample that is skewed
towards senior employees.
Stratified sampling involves dividing the
population into subpopulations that may
differ in important ways. It allows you draw
more precise conclusions by ensuring that
every subgroup is properly represented in
the sample.
To use this sampling method, you divide the
population into subgroups (called strata) based on
the relevant characteristic (e.g., gender identity,
age range, income bracket, job role).
Based on the overall proportions of the
population, you calculate how many people should
be sampled from each subgroup. Then you use
random or systematic sampling to select a
sample from each subgroup.
EXAMPLE:
The company has 800 female employees and 200
male employees. You want to ensure that the
sample reflects the gender balance of the
company, so you sort the population into two
strata based on gender. Then you use random
sampling on each group, selecting 80 women and
20 men, which gives you a representative sample
of 100 people.
Cluster sampling also involves dividing the
population into subgroups, but each
subgroup should have similar characteristics
to the whole sample. Instead of sampling
individuals from each subgroup, you
randomly select entire subgroups.
If it is practically possible, you might include
every individual from each sampled cluster.
If the clusters themselves are large, you can
also sample individuals from within each
cluster using one of the techniques above.
This is called multistage sampling.
This method is good for dealing with large
and dispersed populations, but there is more
risk of error in the sample, as there could be
substantial differences between clusters. It’s
difficult to guarantee that the sampled
clusters are really representative of the
whole population.
The company has offices in 10 cities across
the country (all with roughly the same
number of employees in similar roles). You
don’t have the capacity to travel to every
office to collect your data, so you use
random sampling to select 3 offices – these
are your clusters.
In a non-probability sample,
individuals are selected based on
non-random criteria, and not
every individual has a chance of
being included.
This type of sample is easier and cheaper to
access, but it has a higher risk of sampling bias.
That means the inferences you can make about
the population are weaker than with probability
samples, and your conclusions may be more
limited. If you use a non-probability sample, you
should still aim to make it as representative of the
population as possible.
Non-probability sampling techniques are
often used in exploratory and qualitative
research. In these types of research, the aim
is not to test a hypothesis about a broad
population, but to develop an initial
understanding of a small or under-
researched population.
A convenience sample simply includes the
individuals who happen to be most accessible to
the researcher.
This is an easy and inexpensive way to gather
initial data, but there is no way to tell if the sample
is representative of the population, so it can’t
produce generalizable results. Convenience
samples are at risk for both sampling bias and
selection bias.
EXAMPLE: You are researching opinions about
student support services in your university, so
after each of your classes, you ask your fellow
students to complete a survey on the topic. This is
a convenient way to gather data, but as you only
surveyed students taking the same classes as you
at the same level, the sample is not
representative of all the students at your
university.
Similar to a convenience sample, a voluntary
response sample is mainly based on ease of
access. Instead of the researcher choosing
participants and directly contacting them,
people volunteer themselves (e.g. by
responding to a public online survey).
Voluntary response samples are
always at least somewhat biased,
as some people will inherently be
more likely to volunteer than
others, leading to self-selection
bias.
EXAMPLE: You send out the survey to all students
at your university and a lot of students decide to
complete it. This can certainly give you some
insight into the topic, but the people who
responded are more likely to be those who have
strong opinions about the student support
services, so you can’t be sure that their opinions
are representative of all students.
This type of sampling, also known as
judgement sampling, involves the
researcher using their expertise to
select a sample that is most useful to
the purposes of the research.
It is often used in qualitative research, where the
researcher wants to gain detailed knowledge
about a specific phenomenon rather than make
statistical inferences, or where the population is
very small and specific. An effective purposive
sample must have clear criteria and rationale for
inclusion. Always make sure to describe your
inclusion and exclusion criteria and beware of
observer bias affecting your arguments.
EXAMPLE:
You want to know more about the opinions
and experiences of disabled students at your
university, so you purposefully select a
number of students with different support
needs in order to gather a varied range of
data on their experiences with student
services.
If the population is hard to access, snowball
sampling can be used to recruit participants via
other participants. The number of people you have
access to “snowballs” as you get in contact with
more people. The downside here is also
representativeness, as you have no way of
knowing how representative your sample is due
to the reliance on participants recruiting others.
This can lead to sampling bias.
EXAMPLE: You are researching experiences
of homelessness in your city. Since there is
no list of all homeless people in the city,
probability sampling isn’t possible. You meet
one person who agrees to participate in the
research, and she puts you in contact with
other homeless people that she knows in the
area.
Pritha Bhandari (2020), Population vs. Sample |
Definitions, Differences & Examples
https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/sampling-
methods/

Shona McCombes (2019), Sampling Methods | Types,

Techniques & Examples
https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/sampling-
methods/