Chapter 1

Sampling and
Sampling
Distributions
CONTENTS

I. Basic definitions
II. The need for sampling
III.Types of sampling
techniques
IV.Sampling distributions
 Basic Concepts:
Definition

• A population is the set of all the

elements of interest in a study
• A sample is a subset of a population
• Census: Gathering information from a
population
• Sampling: Gathering of information from
a sample
 Basic Concepts:
Parameters and Statistics
• A parameter is a numerical characteristic of a
population. They have a single value,
• µ = population mean
• = population standard deviation
• Р = population proportion
• A statistic is a numerical characteristic of a
sample. Their value depends on the sample drawn
• = sample mean
• s = sample standard deviation
• p ˉ = sample proportion
 The need for Samples
• Although, decision makers need information about
the whole population (census information), but it is,
• Expensive or costly
• Time consuming
• Not practical
• Therefore, sampling is used extensively to provide
information needed by decision makers.
• With proper sampling methods, the sample result will
provide good estimates of the population
characteristics.
 The need for Samples

• The purpose of statistical inference is to obtain

information about a population from information
contained in a sample.
• Sampling and sample results can be used to
develop estimates of population characteristics.
• Sampling results provide only estimates of the
value of the population characteristics.
 Methods of Sampling

I. Random Sampling or Probability Sampling

1. Simple random sampling: each item/person in a
population has the same chance of being included or
selected
2. Systematic random sampling: the item of a population is
arranged in some way (kth = N/n)
3. Stratified random sampling: A population is subdivided
into heterogeneous subgroups, called strata, a sample is
selected from each stratum. This requires presence of non-
homogeneities in a population. It guarantees representation
of each subgroup
4. Cluster sampling: Applied when the population is
subdivided into homogeneous subgroups. Also called area
sampling method
 Methods of Sampling

II. Non-random or Non-probability Sampling

1. Convenience sampling: Elements are selected
for the sample for the convenience of the
researcher
2. Judgmental/Purposive sampling: Judgment of
the researcher
3. Quota sampling
4. Snowball Sampling
• Reading Assignment: Sampling and Non
sampling errors
Sampling distributions

1.Sampling distribution of the

population Mean
2.Sampling distribution of the
population Proportion
 Parameters and Statistics An Example:

Employee Hourly Earnings

Example-1: Hourly
Earnings of the Joe $7
Production Sam 7
Employees of Tartus Sue 8
Industries Bob 8
Jan 7
Art 8
Ted 9
Parameters and Statistics An Example: Hourly
Earnings of the Production Employees of Tartus
Industries

Required
a. Find population parameters
b. Find sample mean of all possible samples of size 2.
c. What is the sampling distribution of the sample
mean for samples of size 2?
d. What is the mean and standard deviation
(Standard Error) of the sampling distribution?
e. What observations can be made about the
population and the sampling distribution?
 Solution to Example-1
• The population mean is $7.71, found by:

• The population standard deviation is 0.70 computed as

follows.
Sample Means for All Possible Samples of 2
Employees

Employee Hourly
Sample Sum Mean
s Earnings
1 Joe, Sam $7,$7 $14 $7.00
2 Joe,Sue 7,8 15 7.5
3 Joe,Bob 7,8 15 7.5
4 Joe,Jan 7,7 14 7
5 Joe, Art 7,8 15 7.5
6 Joe, Ted 7,9 16 8
7 Sam, Sue 7,8 15 7.5
8 Sam, Bob 7,8 15 7.5
9 Sam, Jan 7,7 14 7
10 Sam,Art 7,8 15 7.5
Sample Means for All Possible
Samples of 2 Employees

Sample Employees Hourly Earnings Sum Mean

12 Sue,Bob $8,$8 $16 $8.00

13 Sue, Jan 8,7 15 7.5
14 Sue,Art 8,8 16 8
15 Sue, Ted 8,9 17 8.5
16 Bob,Jan 8,7 15 7.5
17 Bob, Art 8,8 16 8
18 Bob, Ted 8,9 17 8.5
19 Jan, Art 7,8 15 7.5
20 Jan, Ted 7,9 16 8
21 Art, Ted 8,9 17 8.5
5 Sampling Distribution of the
Sample Mean for n = 2
Summati Probability
Frequenc
Sample on Of (Relative
y of
Mean Means Frequency of
Means
Means)
7 3 21 0.1429
7.5 9 67.5 0.4285
8 6 48 0.2857
8.5 3 25.5 0.1429
Total 21 162 1.0000
The Mean of the Sample
Means and Standard Error
 Introduction to
Sampling Distribution

Example-2:
The population given below is a sales
data (in thousand of units) achieved
by a company for its first five months
of the operation from July to
November
I. The sampling distribution of Introduction to
the mean (xˉ) Sampling
Required Distribution
A. How many samples of size
n = 3 can be drawn from
the population?
B. Compute and tabulate the
sampling distribution of
the mean for sample size Jul
n=3
Au Sep Oct Nov
Solution:
g t
N = 5; n = 3; Number of samples 0 3 6 3 18
computed by NCn
C. 5C3 = 5!/3!(5-3)! = 10,
thus 10 samples of size n
= 3 can be drawn from the
population size N = 5.
Population Samples
values
Sample
values
Sample
mean
Introduction to
J=0 JAS 0, 3, 6 3
Sampling
A=3 JAO 0, 3, 3 2
Distribution
S=6 JAN 0, 3, 18 7
I. The sampling
O=3 JSO 0, 6, 3 3
distribution
N = 18 JSN 0, 6, 18 8
of the mean
JON 0, 3, 18 7
()
ASO 3, 6, 3 4
ASN 3, 6, 18 9
B. The 10
possible
AON 3, 3, 18 8
samples
SON 6, 3, 18 6
and their
∑ 60
mean are
shown
below:
Introduction to
Sampling
Distribution
SAMPLE FREQUEN RELATI
MEANS CY VE
FREQ.
I. The sampling
distribution of the mean
()
2 1 0.10
B. The 10 possible 3 2 0.20
samples and their
mean are shown 4 1 0.10
below:
Therefore, the sampling 7 2 0.20
distribution of the 8 2 0.20
mean is also called
the probability 9 2 0.20
distribution of the
sample mean is 10 1
summarized below:
The sampling distribution of the mean (𝒙 ̅)

 The relationship between population

mean and the sampling distribution of
the sample mean :

(Proof it using the previous eg.)

Standard Error of the Mean

• Different samples of the same size from the same

population will yield different sample means
• A measure of the variability in the mean from
sample to sample is given by the Standard Error
of the Mean:

σ
σX 
n
• Note that the standard error of the mean
decreases as the sample size increases
The sampling distribution of the mean (𝒙 ̅)

Example: The monthly salary of accountants in

Ethiopia has a standard deviation of ETB 4,000
what is the standard error of the mean for a
samples of size 30 employees.
 Sampling Distribution Properties

Normal Population
μx μ Distribution

(i.e. is unbiased)
μ x
Normal Sampling
Distribution
(has the same mean)

μx
x
 Central Limit Theorem

the sampling
As the n↑
distribution
sample
becomes
size gets
almost normal
large
regardless of
enough…
shape of
population

x
Central Limit Theorem… ctd
Standard Normal Distribution Table
Z-Distribution
Normal Distribution Properties

1. The normal distribution curve is bell-shaped.

2. The mean, median, and mode are equal and
located at the center of the distribution.
3. The normal distribution curve is unimodal (i.e.,
it has only one mode).
4. The curve is symmetrical about the mean,
which is equivalent to saying that its shape is
the same on both sides of a vertical line
passing through the center.
5. The standard normal distribution is a normal
distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard
deviation of 1.
Normal Distribution
Properties…ctd
6. The curve is continuous—i.e., there are no gaps or
holes. For each value of X, there is a corresponding
value of Y.
• The curve never touches the x-axis.
• Theoretically, no matter how far in either direction the curve
extends, it never meets the x-axis—but it gets increasingly
close.
7. The total area under the normal distribution curve is
equal to 1.00 or 100%.
• The area under the normal curve that lies within one standard
deviation of the mean is approximately 0.68 (68%).
• Two standard deviations of the mean is approximately 0.95
(95%).
• Three standard deviations of the mean is approximately
( 99.7%).
Normal distribution of
the mean ()
• For a normal population, the sample means are normally
distributed.
• If the population is not known of its normality, but if the
sample is greater than 30, the sample mean distribution
can be assumed as normal.
• The z value is the number of standard deviations that a
particular X value is away from the mean. The formula
for finding the z value [OR Z-value for the sampling
distribution of ] is:
 Normal distribution of
the mean ()
Example
Hourly wage of workers is an industry have a mean
wage rate of $5 per hour and a s.d. of $0.6.
a) What is the probability that the mean wage of
a random sample of 50 workers will be
between 5.10 and 5.20?
b) What is the probability that the mean wage of
a random sample of 36 workers will be
between 5.10 and 5.20?
c) What is the probability that the mean wage of
a random sample of 100 workers will be
between $4.8 and $5.20?
Normal distribution of
the mean ()
Solution
a) Given: , Thus, ; ;

Therefore, the probability that the sample mean wage of 50 employees

is between $5.10 and $5.20 is 10.99%.
 Population Proportions, P
P = the proportion of the population having
some characteristic
• Sample proportion () provides an estimate
proportion P: of population

X number of items in the sample having the characteri stic of interest

Pˆ  
n sample size

•0≤ ≤1
• has a binomial distribution, but can be
approximated by a normal distribution when
 ^
Sampling Distribution of P

• Normal approximation:
Sampling Distribution
P(Pˆ )
.3
.2
.1
Properties: 0
0 .2 .4 .6 8 1 P̂
and

 X  P(1 P)
E(Pˆ ) p
2
σ Var   
Pˆ
n n
(where P = population proportion)
Z-Value for Proportions

Standardize P̂ to a Z value with the formula:

Pˆ  P Pˆ  P
Z 
σ Pˆ P(1 P)
n
Sampling distribution of the
proportion ()

• The probability distribution for all possible

values of the sample proportion is called the
sampling distribution of the sample proportion .
• P is the population proportion of success
• is the sample statistic proportion of success
• Note that,

• The general formula of the standard normal

variable Z of is
Example-1
• If the true proportion of voters who
support Proposition A is P = .4, what
is the probability that a sample of size
200 yields a sample proportion between
.40 and .45?

 i.e.: if P = .4 and n = 200, what is

P(.40P̂≤ ≤ .45) ?
 Example-1
(continued)
• if P = .4 and n = 200, what is
P(.40 ≤ ≤ .45) ?

P(1 P) .4(1 .4)

Find σ Pˆ : σ Pˆ   .03464
n 200

Convert to  .40  .40 .45  .40 

standard
ˆ
P(.40 P .45) P Z  
normal:  .03464 .03464 
P(0 Z 1.44)
Example-1
(continued)
• if p = .4 and n = 200, what is
P(.40 ≤ ≤ .45) ?

Use standard normal table: P(0 ≤ Z ≤ 1.44) = .4251

Standardized
Sampling Distribution Normal Distribution
.4251

Standardize

.40 .45 P̂ 0 1.44

Z
 Sampling distribution of the
proportion ()

Example 1: Suppose that 55% of the TV audience of

a large population watched a particular program
on Saturday evening. What is the probability that
in a random sample of 100 viewers, less than
50% of the sample watched the program?

Given: P = 0.55 since µ pˉ = P thus µ pˉ = 0.55

i.e. q = 0.45
n = 100; pˉ = 0.50
Sampling distribution of the
proportion ()

Solution:

At ,
P(-1.01to 0) = 0.3438
P(z≤-1.01) = 0.5-0.3438
= 0.1562 is the
probability that less than 50% of
the sample saw the program.
 Sampling distribution of the
proportion ()

Example 2: Of the 2500 employees of a company 1500

employees are completed the management training
program. If a sample of 30 employees is taken, what is
the probability of obtaining a value of within 0.05 of the
population proportion of employees who have completed
the management training program.
Given: P = 1500/2500 = 0.60
since thus i.e.
Sampling distribution of the proportion ()…
ctd

Solution:

At , ; At ,

Z Z

42.46% is the probability of obtaining a sample size of n

= 30 within the given condition i.e.
Assignment-1
Sampling distribution of the sample mean
and the sample proportion

Question-1: 10% of Accounting graduates of the undergraduate

program join Masters program in MSc Accounting and
Finance. What is the probability that a random sample of 80
graduate from 2024 graduating batch, more than 15% of the
sample will join the masters program?
Question-2: The Addis Ababa Health Bureau reported that
teenagers in Addis Ababa watch television for an average of
25 hours per week. Assume this random variable is normally
distributed with a standard deviation of 4hrs. Suppose that
81 teenagers are randomly selected from Arada Subcity, find
the probability that the mean of the number of hours they
watch television will be greater than 32 hours per week.
End of
Chapter-1