11-2

Sample vs. Census

Conditions Favoring the Use of

Type of Study Sample Census

1. Budget Small Large

2. Time available Short Long

3. Population size Large Small

4. Variance in the characteristic Small Large

5. Cost of sampling errors Low High

6. Cost of nonsampling errors High Low

7. Nature of measurement Destructive Nondestructive

8. Attention to individual cases Yes No

 11-3

The Sampling Design Process

Define the Population

Determine the Sampling Frame

Select Sampling Technique(s)

Determine the Sample Size

Execute the Sampling Process

 11-4

Define the Target Population

The target population is the to the entire group of people, events, or things of
interest that the researcher wishes to investigate and about which inferences
are to be made. The target population should be defined in terms of
elements, sampling units and subject.

 An element is a single member of the population.

 A sample is a subset of the population. It comprises some members selected
from it.
 Sampling unit: the element or set of elements that is available for selection in
some stage of the sampling process.
 Sampling frame is a listing of all elements that is available for selection in
some stage of the sampling process.
 A subject is a single member of the sample, just as an element is a single
member of the population.
 11-5

Sample Sizes Used in Marketing

Research Studies

Type of Study Minimum Size Typical Range

Problem identification research 500 1,000-2,500

(e.g. market potential)
Problem-solving research (e.g. 200 300-500
pricing)

Product tests 200 300-500

Test marketing studies 200 300-500

TV, radio, or print advertising (per 150 200-300

commercial or ad tested)
Test-market audits 10 stores 10-20 stores

Focus groups 2 groups 4-12 groups

 11-6

Classification of Sampling Techniques

Sampling Techniques

Nonprobability Probability
Sampling Techniques Sampling Techniques

Convenience Judgmental Quota Snowball

Sampling Sampling Sampling Sampling

Simple Random Systematic Stratified Cluster Other Sampling

Sampling Sampling Sampling Sampling Techniques
 11-7

Convenience Sampling
 Convenience sampling attempts to collect information from members
of the population who are conveniently available to provide it.
 Often, respondents are selected because they happen to be in the
right place at the right time.
 Commonly used during exploratory phase to collect basic information
quickly and efficiently,
 Examples:
 use of students, and members of social organizations
 mall intercept interviews without qualifying the respondents
 “people on the street” interviews
 11-8

Judgmental Sampling
 Judgmental sampling involves selecting population elements based on
the judgment of the researcher.
 Researcher is of the opinion that the population elements are in the
best position to provide the information needed.
 Requires special efforts to locate and gain access to individuals who
have the requisite information.
 Examples:
 Trainees who have attended Teaching and Learning course in the
last 3 months.
 Single parents living in Kuala Selangor
 Full time MBA students who graduated in the last 1 year.
 11-9

Quota Sampling
Quota sampling may be viewed as two-stage restricted judgmental sampling.
 The first stage consists of developing control categories, or quotas, of
population elements.
 In the second stage, sample elements are selected based on convenience or
judgment.

Population Sample
composition composition
Control
Characteristic Percentage Percentage Number
Sex
Male 48 48 480
Female 52 52 520
____ ____ ____
100 100 1000
 11-10

Snowball Sampling

In snowball sampling, an initial group of respondents is selected,

usually at random.

 After being interviewed, these respondents are asked to identify

others who belong to the target population of interest.
 Subsequent respondents are selected based on the referrals.
 11-11

Simple Random Sampling

 Each element in the population has a known and equal chance of
being selected.
 Each possible sample of a given size (n) has a known and equal
probability of being the sample actually selected.
 This implies that every element is selected independently of every
other element.
 Least bias and offers most generalizability
11-12
 11-13

Selection process using Table of Random

Numbers. An Example…..
 11-14

Systematic Sampling
 The sample is chosen by selecting a random starting point and then
picking every ith element in succession from the sampling frame.
 The sampling interval, i, is determined by dividing the population size
N by the sample size n and rounding to the nearest integer.
 When the ordering of the elements is related to the characteristic of
interest, systematic sampling increases the representativeness of the
sample.
For example, there are 100,000 elements in the population and a
sample of 1,000 is desired. In this case the sampling interval, i, is 100.
A random number between 1 and 100 is selected. If, for example, this
number is 23, the sample consists of elements 23, 123, 223, 323, 423,
523, and so on.
 11-15

Stratified Sampling

 A two-step process in which the population is partitioned into

subpopulations, or strata.
 The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
in that every population element should be assigned to one and
only one stratum and no population elements should be omitted.
 Next, elements are selected from each stratum by a random
procedure, usually SRS.
 A major objective of stratified sampling is to increase precision
without increasing cost.
 11-16

Stratified Sampling
 The elements within a stratum should be as homogeneous as possible,
but the elements in different strata should be as heterogeneous as
possible.
 The stratification variables should also be closely related to the
characteristic of interest.
 Finally, the variables should decrease the cost of the stratification
process by being easy to measure and apply.
 In proportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample drawn
from each stratum is proportionate to the relative size of that stratum
in the total population.
 In disproportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample from
each stratum is proportionate to the relative size of that stratum and
to the standard deviation of the distribution of the characteristic of
interest among all the elements in that stratum.
 11-17

Cluster Sampling

 The target population is first divided into mutually exclusive and

collectively exhaustive subpopulations, or clusters.
 Then a random sample of clusters is selected, based on a probability
sampling technique such as SRS.
 For each selected cluster, either all the elements are included in the
sample (one-stage) or a sample of elements is drawn
probabilistically (two-stage).
 Elements within a cluster should be as heterogeneous as possible,
but clusters themselves should be as homogeneous as possible.
Ideally, each cluster should be a small-scale representation of the
population.
 11-18

Strengths and Weaknesses of

Basic Sampling Techniques
Technique Strengths Weaknesses
Nonprobability Sampling Least expensive, least Selection bias, sample not
Convenience sampling time-consuming, most representative, not recommended for
convenient descriptive or causal research
Judgmental sampling Low cost, convenient, Does not allow generalization,
not time-consuming subjective
Quota sampling Sample can be controlled Selection bias, no assurance of
for certain characteristics representativeness
Snowball sampling Can estimate rare Time-consuming
characteristics

Probability sampling Easily understood, Difficult to construct sampling

Simple random sampling results projectable frame, expensive, lower precision,
(SRS) no assurance of representativeness.
Systematic sampling Can increase Can decrease representativeness
representativeness,
easier to implement than
SRS, sampling frame not
necessary
Stratified sampling Include all important Difficult to select relevant
subpopulations, stratification variables, not feasible to
precision stratify on many variables, expensive
Cluster sampling Easy to implement, cost Imprecise, difficult to compute and
effective interpret results
 11-19

Sample size: guidelines

 In general: sample sizes of 30 < n <  Experiments: in experimental
500are appropriate for most research with tight experimental
research. controls (matched pairs) successful
 Categories: in cases where samples research is possible with samples
are broken into sub samples ie as small as 10 to 20 in size.
males/females,  Krejcie and Morgan (1970)
Malay/Chinese/Indians a minimum simplified size decision by
sample size of 30 per subcategory providing a table that ensures a
is necessary good decision model (next slide…)
 Multivariate: in multivariate 
research including regression
analysis, sample size should be
several times [10 times or more] as
large as the number of variables in
the study (10 x number of var’s)
Sample Size for a Given Population
11-20

Size