CHAPTER 5

LESSON 3

SAMPLES AND SAMPLE SIZE

 POPULATION

A
SAMPLE

B
 POPULATION
totality of individuals or objects; focus of
the study;too big to handle!; listing the
members of the population produces the
SAMPLING FRAME which should be
accurate and up to date

SAMPLE
subset of the population
representative
 POPULATION
(N)
sampling
inference

SAMPLE
(n)
CAUTION: STATISTICS COMPUTATION AHEAD!

SAMPLE SIZE
▸ consider the following:

▸ confidence interval

▸ level of precision that the true value of the parameter is

included in the sample

▸ e.g. 95% CI means that after enough trials, 95% of the time,
the true value of the parameter is there

▸ margin of error

▸ range where the results from the samples taken are likely to
represent the true value of the parameter

▸ maximum difference that can be expected between the true

parameter and the statistic
CAUTION: STATISTICS COMPUTATION AHEAD!

SAMPLE SIZE
▸ example:

▸ if the result of the study has a confidence interval of

90% and a margin of error of 5%, it means that if a
different set of respondents was used, the result
would still be within 5% of the original result in 90 of
100 respondents

▸ therefore, the margin of error of 5% provides a range

of 85% to 95%, so in 90 of the 100 cases, the result
will be within 85 to 93%
CAUTION: STATISTICS COMPUTATION AHEAD!

SAMPLE SIZE

▸ confidence interval is inversely proportional to margin of

error and directly proportional to the sample size

▸ the higher the CI, the lower the MOE, the larger the
sample size

CI MOE SAMPLE
CAUTION: STATISTICS COMPUTATION AHEAD!

STEP 1 SAMPLE SIZE COMPUTATION

▸ Know your population size

▸ total number of people within your demographic

▸ for larger studies, you can use an approximated value

▸ note: precision has a greater impact when you work

with a smaller group as larger surveys allow for a
greater deviance in the actual population
CAUTION: STATISTICS COMPUTATION AHEAD!

STEP 2 SAMPLE SIZE COMPUTATION

▸ Determine your margin of error

▸ percentage that indicates how close your sample results

will be to the true value of the overall population

▸ smaller margin or errors will result to more accurate

answers but would need a larger sample size

▸ example: “35% of people agree with option A, with a

margin of error of +/- 5%"

▸ if the entire population were asked the same question,

you are confident that somewhere between 30% and
40% would agree with option A
CAUTION: STATISTICS COMPUTATION AHEAD!

STEP 3 SAMPLE SIZE COMPUTATION

▸ Set your confidence level

▸ this value measures your degree of certainly

regarding how well a sample represents the overall
population within your chosen margin of error

▸ choosing a confidence level of 95% allows you to

claim that you’re 95% certain that the results
accurately fall within your chosen margin of error

▸ the larger the confidence level, the greater degree of

accuracy, the larger the sample size
CAUTION: STATISTICS COMPUTATION AHEAD!

STEP 4 SAMPLE SIZE COMPUTATION

▸ Specify your standard of deviation

▸ indicates how much variation you expect among

responses

▸ extreme answers are more likely to be accurate than

moderate results

▸ since this is difficult to determine before you give the

actual survey, more researchers set this value at 0.5
(50%) as worst case scenario percentage
CAUTION: STATISTICS COMPUTATION AHEAD!

STEP 5 SAMPLE SIZE COMPUTATION

▸ Find your Z-score

▸ indicates the standard normal score or the number of SD between any

selected value and the mean of the population

▸ since confidence levels are fairly standardized, most researchers simple

memorise the necessary Z-score for the most common confidence levels

▸ 80% confidence => 1.28 z-score

▸ 85% confidence => 1.44 z-score

▸ 90% confidence => 1.65 z-score

▸ 95% confidence => 1.96 z-score

▸ 99% confidence => 2.58 z-score

HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE: STANDARD FORMULA

HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE: STANDARD FORMULA

▸ Determine the ideal survey size for a population size of
425 people. Use a 99% confidence level, a 50% standard
of deviation, and a 5% margin of error. For 99%
confidence, you would have a z-score of 2.58.
HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE: STANDARD FORMULA

HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE:

FOR VERY LARGE OR UNKNOWN POPULATIONS
HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE:

FOR VERY LARGE OR UNKNOWN POPULATIONS
▸ Determine the necessary survey size for an unknown
population with a 90% confidence level, 50% standard of
deviation, a 3% margin of error. For 90% confidence, use
the z-score would be 1.65.
HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE:

FOR VERY LARGE OR UNKNOWN POPULATIONS
▸ Determine the necessary survey size for an unknown
population with a 90% confidence level, 50% standard of
deviation, a 3% margin of error. For 90% confidence, use
the z-score would be 1.65.
HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE: SLOVIN’S FORMULA

HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE: SLOVIN’S FORMULA

▸ Calculate the necessary survey size for a population of
240, allowing for a 4% margin of error.
HERE’S THE MATH PART…

COMPUTING FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE: SLOVIN’S FORMULA

▸ Calculate the necessary survey size for a population of
240, allowing for a 4% margin of error.