SAMPLING THEORY

ESTIMATION & DISTRIBUTION

HYPOTHESIS TESTING
What is sampling?

Sample surveys vs Census (Complete enumeration)

Sample surveys collect information on a fraction of total
population – representative of the population
 For example, if a population has 30% males and 70% females,
then the sample is expected to have nearly 30% males and 70%
females

Complete count of population is called census

Examples of sample surveys- National Sample Survey

Organization (NSSO), Annual Survey of Industries, All
India Crop Estimation Survey

http://www.mospi.gov.in/download-
reports?main_cat=NzIy&cat=All&sub_category=All
Sampling Frame & Sample Unit

Sample Unit – An element or a group of elements on
which the observations is taken

How to determine the sampling unit – decide on the
objective of the survey

Sampling frame - list of all the units of the population
to be surveyed

Example 1–To determine household income of a city

Example 2- To determine income of working individuals in
a city

Sample unit - ?

Sampling frame -?
Sampling techniques

Random or Probability

The selection of units in the sample from a population is
governed by the laws of chance or probability.
Probability of selection of a unit can be equal/ unequal

Non-random or Purposive

The selection of units in the sample from population is not
governed by the probability laws, the units are selected
on the basis of personal judgment of the surveyor
 Probability Sampling Methods

Random sampling

A sample from the population is randomly selected, each unit of analysis in the
population has an equal and known chance of being selected.

Each unit is assigned a number, then numbers are randomly selected using a table
of random numbers, a computer random number generator, or some other device.

Representation from important subgroups may be missing
Probability Sampling Methods

Systematic sampling

After calculating the required sample size, every Nth unit is selected from the
listing of the population

The advantage of this method is simplicity

Commonly used in conducting HH surveys, i.e. every 10th household is selected
Probability Sampling Methods

Stratified sampling

When the population of interest has subgroups or strata that have a low
occurrence or that require separate analysis. Examples of strata are slum/non-
slum households, males/females, households living above/below the poverty line

The relevant strata and their proportion in the population must be identified

Within each stratum, the sample is drawn using random sampling
Purposive sampling

Also known as judgment, selective or subjective sampling

Researcher relies on his/her own judgment when choosing
sample from the population

Mostly used in qualitative research

Example – Stakeholder sampling for a planning project

Vulnerability to errors in judgment by researcher

Low level of reliability and high levels of bias.

Inability to generalize research findings
Purposive sampling
Citizen Report Cards (CRCs)

Citizen Report Cards (CRC) is an international best
practice tool for improving service delivery

A survey by Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bangalore

since 1993

http://pacindia.org/
Methodology followed by PAC for CRCs

City Population
population
Zonal division
South East West

Area 1 Area 2 Area 3 Wards

grouped into
areas

Slum Non-slum HHs

stratification
Not Internal
Notified notified Main road road Slum/ area
stratification

Sample Sample Sample Sample HHs selected

HHs HHs HHs HHs based on
Probability
Proportionate
Size
Steps to draft a sampling design
1. Define the population
2. Select the unit of analysis
3. Identify subgroups in the population (or the
desired level of analysis)
4. Select the sample size
5. Determine the sampling frame
6. Select proper sampling method
Sampling distribution

Each time we take a random sample from a
population, we are likely to get a different set of
individuals and calculate a different statistic. This is
called sampling variability

If we take a lot of random samples of the same size
from a given population, the variation from sample
to sample—the sampling distribution

Larger the number of samples better is the
approximation of the parameter (population
statistic for ex. mean)
Sampling distribution of the mean

For a sufficiently
large no of
samples, the mean
of the sampling
distribution will be
a very good
measure of the
population mean

Source: https://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampstat.php

For any population with mean µ and standard
deviation σ:

The mean, or center of the
sampling distribution of x,
is equal to the population
mean µ : µx = µ.

Standard deviation of the
sampling distribution is
σ/√n, where n is the
sample size : σx = σ/√n
Standard/Sample Error

This is the standard deviation of the sampling
distribution - i.e. how different samples are
distributed

Sampling error gives us an idea of the precision of
our statistical estimate – how close is it to the
population parameter

An estimate for this is the standard deviation of
the sample
Some useful links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbw-YvELsaM

https://www.socialresearchmethods.net