Sampling and Sampling Distributions

Selecting a Sample
Point Estimation
Introduction to Sampling Distributions
Sampling Distribution ofx
Sampling Distribution ofp
Properties of Point Estimators
Other Sampling Methods

Introduction
An
An element
element is
is the
the entity
entity on
on which
which data
data are
are collected.
collected.
A
A population
population is
is aa collection
collection of
of all
all the
the elements
elements of
of
interest.
interest.
A
A sample
sample is
is aa subset
subset of
of the
the population.
population.
The
The sampled
sampled population
population is
is the
the population
population from
from
which
which the
the sample
sample is
is drawn.
drawn.
A
A frame
frame is
is aa list
list of
of the
the elements
elements that
that the
the sample
sample will
will
be
be selected
selected from.
from.

Introduction
The
The reason
reason we
we select
select aa sample
sample is
is to
to collect
collect data
data to
to
answer
answer aa research
research question
question about
about aa population.
population.
The
The sample
sample results
results provide
provide only
only estimates
estimates of
of the
the
values
values of
of the
the population
population characteristics.
characteristics.
The
The reason
reason is
is simply
simply that
that the
the sample
sample contains
contains only
only aa
portion
portion of
of the
the population.
population.
With
With proper
proper sampling
sampling methods,
methods, the
the sample
sample results
results
can
can provide
provide good
good estimates
estimates of
of the
the population
population
characteristics.
characteristics.

Selecting a Sample

Sampling from a Finite Population

Sampling from an Infinite

Population

Sampling from a Finite Population

Finite populations are often defined by lists such
as:
Organization membership roster
Credit card account numbers
Inventory product numbers

A simple random sample of size n from a finite

population of size N is a sample selected such
that
each possible sample of size n has the same
probability
of being selected.

Sampling from a Finite Population

Replacing each sampled element before selecting

subsequent elements is called sampling with
replacement.

Sampling without replacement is the procedure

used most often.
In large sampling projects, computer-generated
random numbers are often used to automate the
sample selection process.

Sampling from a Finite Population

Example: St. Andrews College

St. Andrews College received 900
applications for
admission in the upcoming year from
prospective
students. The applicants were numbered, from
1 to
900, as their applications arrived. The Director
of
Admissions would like to select a simple
random
sample of 30 applicants.

Sampling from a Finite Population

Example: St. Andrews College

Select the 30 applicants randomly

Sampling from an Infinite Population

Sometimes we want to select a sample, but find it is

not possible to obtain a list of all elements in the
population.

As a result, we cannot construct a frame for the

population.

Hence, we cannot use the random number selection

procedure.

Most often this situation occurs in infinite population

cases.

Sampling from an Infinite Population

Populations are often generated by an ongoing

process where there is no upper limit on the
number of units that can be generated.

Some examples of on-going processes, with infinite

populations, are:
parts being manufactured on a production line
transactions occurring at a bank
telephone calls arriving at a technical help desk
customers entering a store

Sampling from an Infinite Population

In the case of an infinite population, we must

select
a random sample in order to make valid
statistical
inferences about the population from which
A random sample from an infinite population is a
the
sample selected such that the following conditions
sample is taken.
are satisfied.
Each element selected comes from the population
of interest.
Each element is selected independently.

Point Estimation
Point
Point estimation
estimation is
is aa form
form of
of statistical
statistical inference.
inference.
In
In point
point estimation
estimation we
we use
use the
the data
data from
from the
the sample
sample
to
to compute
compute aa value
value of
of aa sample
sample statistic
statistic that
that serves
serves
as
as an
an estimate
estimate of
of aa population
population parameter.
parameter.
We
We refer
refer to
to
mean
mean ..

xas
as the
the point
point estimator
estimator of
of the
the population
population

ss is
is the
the point
point estimator
estimator of
of the
the population
population standard
standard
deviation
deviation ..
is
ispthe
the point
point estimator
estimator of
of the
the population
population proportion
proportion p.
p.

Point Estimation

Example: St. Andrews College

Recall that St. Andrews College received 900
applications from prospective students. The
application form contains a variety of
information
including the individuals MAT score and
whether or not the individual desires oncampus housing.
At a meeting in a few hours, the Director of
Admissions would like to announce the average
MAT
score and the proportion of applicants that
want to
live on campus, for the population of 900
applicants.

Point Estimation

Example: St. Andrews College

However, the necessary data on the
applicants have
not yet been entered in the colleges
computerized
database. So, the Director decides to estimate
the
values of the population parameters of interest
based
on sample statistics. The sample of 30
applicants is
selected using computer-generated random
numbers.

Point Estimation

x as Point Estimator of
x

32,910

1097
30
30
i

s as Point Estimator of
s

2
(
x

x
)
i

29

163,996
75.2
29

p as Point Estimator of
p
p 20 30 .68

Note: Different random numbers would have

identified a different sample which would have
resulted in different point estimates.

Point Estimation
Once all the data for the 900 applicants were
entered
in the colleges database, the values of the
population Mean MAT Score
Population
parameters of interest were
calculated.
xi

1090
900
Population Standard Deviation for MAT
2
Score
(
x

)
i

80
900
Population Proportion Wanting On-Campus
648
Housing
p
.72
900

Summary of Point Estimates

Obtained from a Simple Random Sample
Population
Parameter

Parameter
Value

Point
Estimator

Point
Estimate

= Population mean 1090

MAT score

x= Sample mean 1097

= Population std.
deviation for
MAT score

80

s = Sample std.
deviation for
MAT score

p = Population proportion wanting

campus housing

.72

p= Sample pro.68
portion wanting
campus housing

MAT score

75.2

Practical Advice
The
The target
target population
population is
is the
the population
population we
we want
want to
to
make
make inferences
inferences about.
about.
The
The sampled
sampled population
population is
is the
the population
population from
from
which
which the
the sample
sample is
is actually
actually taken.
taken.
Whenever
Whenever aa sample
sample is
is used
used to
to make
make inferences
inferences about
about
aa population,
population, we
we should
should make
make sure
sure that
that the
the targeted
targeted
population
population and
and the
the sampled
sampled population
population are
are in
in close
close
agreement.
agreement.

Sampling Distribution ofx

Process of Statistical Inference

Population
with mean
=?

A simple random sample

of n elements is selected
from the population.

The value of x is used to

make inferences about
the value of .

The sample data

provide a value for
the sample meanx .

Sampling Distribution ofx

The sampling distribution of x is the probability
distribution of all possible values of the sample
mean . x
Expected Value of x
E( x) =
where: = the population mean
When the expected value of the point estimator
equals the population parameter, we say the point
estimator is unbiased.

Sampling Distribution ofx

Standard Deviation ofx
We will use the following notation to define the
x of
standard deviation of the sampling distribution
.
x
=
x the standard deviation of

= the standard deviation of the population

n = the sample size
N = the population size

Sampling Distribution ofx

Standard Deviation ofx
Finite Population

Infinite Population

N n
x
( )
N 1 n

x
n

A finite population is treated as being

infinite if n/N < .05.

( N n) / ( N 1) is the finite population

correction factor.
x is referred to as the standard error
of the
mean.

Sampling Distribution ofx

When the population has a normal distribution, the
sampling distribution of x is normally distributed
for any sample size.

x
In most applications, the sampling distribution of
can be approximated by a normal distribution
whenever the sample is size 30 or more.
In cases where the population is highly skewed or
outliers are present, samples of size 50 may be
needed.

Sampling Distribution ofx

The sampling distribution of x can be used to
provide probability information about how close
the sample mean x is to the population mean .