Sampling distribution

The process of selection of a fraction of population

from a large group in order to do investigation about its certain
characteristics and make conclusion about the large group is
known as sampling. The fraction of population which is
selected from the large group is called sample and the large
group from which a fraction of population is selected is known
as population or universe. For instant; a pharmacist takes a
syringe of blood from the whole body of a patient in order to
diagnosis a particular disease and makes conclusion about
whole body. In this example; the whole body of a patient is
population or universe, a syringe of blood is a sample and the
whole process is called sampling. Some other examples of
sampling are as follows;

(a) The process of tasting a spoonful curry from a

whole bucket of curry to know about quantity of
salt in it and make conclusion about whole
bucket.
(b) The process of selection of some starfishes from a
sea to study about constituent of calcium of its
body and make conclusion about whole
starfishes.
(c) The process of selection of some stars in the sky
to study about their brightness and make
conclusion about all stars in the sky.

Importance of sampling
 (i) To save money, time and human resources.
(ii) To study about infinite nature of population.
(iii) To study about destructive nature of experiments.
(iv) To study about complicated nature of population.
MERITS:
(I)It is less expensive.
(ii) It requires less time to get results.
(iii) It needs fewer numbers of human resources.
(iv)It is the only one method of investigation for
the population of infinite and complicated nature.
DEMERITS:
(i) It is not suitable method if the
information about all units of the
population is required.
(ii) It is not suitable for rare events.
(iii) It is not appropriate to study about
historical events.
.
Importance of sampling in the field
of engineering:
Write yourself.

Census
A complete enumeration of a population
by participating every members of it is
known as census. Since every member are
involve in investigation purpose so it gives
more realistic results if expert and
unbiased human resources’ are used, but
it takes large scale of money, time and
human resources’. In addition, census is
impossible for some populations of
complicated nature but it is very effective
if population size is small and to study
about historical events.
MERITS:
(i) It is suitable for small population.
(ii) It is suitable for rare events,
(iii) It is appropriate for historical study.
(iv) If study about all members of population
is required, it is the only one method.
DEMERITS:
(i) It is expensive method.
(ii) It requires large number of human
resources.
(iii) It needs longer time to complete
the study.
(iv) It is impossible for infinite and
complicated nature of population.
 Try it free

Parameter vs Statistic –
What Are the
Differences?
Parameter and statistic are closely related terms that are
important for the determination of the sample size. Many have
trouble understanding the difference between parameter and
statistic, but it’s important to know what exactly these measures
mean and how to distinguish them.

What Is a Parameter?
It is a measure of a characteristic of an entire population (a mass of all
units under consideration that share common characteristics) based on
all the elements within that population. For example, all people living in
one city, all-male teenagers in the world, all elements in a shopping
trolley, or all students in a classroom.

If you ask all employees in a factory what kind of lunch they prefer and
half of them say pasta, you get a parameter here – 50% of the
employees like pasta for lunch. On the other hand, it’s impossible to
count how many men in the whole world like pasta for lunch, since you
can’t ask all of them about their choice. In that case, you’d probably
survey just a representative sample (a portion) of them and extrapolate
the answer to the entire population of men. This brings us to the other
measure called statistic.

Statistic:
It’s a measure of characteristic saying something about a fraction (a
sample) of the population under study. A sample in statistics is a part
or portion of a population. The goal is to estimate a certain population
parameter. You can draw multiple samples from a given population,
and the statistic (the result) acquired from different samples will vary,
depending on the samples. So, using data about a sample or portion
allows you to estimate the characteristics of an entire population.

Parameter vs Statistics
 A parameter is a fixed measure describing the whole population
(population being a group of people, things, animals, phenomena that
share common characteristics.) A statistic is a characteristic of a
sample, a portion of the target population.

 A parameter is fixed, unknown numerical value, while the statistic is a

known number and a variable which depends on the portion of the
population.

 Sample statistic and population parameters have different statistical

notations:

In population parameter, population proportion is represented by P,

mean is represented by µ (Greek letter mu), σ2 represents variance
etc.

In sample statistics, mean is represented by x̄ (x-bar), sample

proportion is represented by p̂ (p-hat), s represents standard
deviation, s2 represents variance etc.

Examples of Parameters

 20% of U.S. senators voted for a specific measure. Since there are
only 100 senators, we can count what each of them voted.

Examples of Statistic

 50% of people living in the U.S. agree with the latest health care
proposal. Researchers can’t ask hundreds of millions of people if they
agree, so they take samples, or part of the population and we can
count.

Conclusion
Parameter vs statistic – both are similar, yet different measures. The
first one describes the whole population, while the second describes a
part of the population.

Sample mean:

Let 𝒙𝟏, 𝒙𝟐, 𝒙𝟑, … … , 𝒙𝒏 are identically and independently

distributed n random samples taken from a population
then mean of these samples is called sample mean and
it is denoted by 𝒙 ̅ and given by a formula;
𝒙𝟏+ 𝒙𝟐+ 𝒙𝟑+ 𝒙𝒏 ∑𝒏
𝒊=𝟏 𝒙𝒊
𝒙̅ = =
𝒏 𝒏

And sample variance is denoted by s2 and given by

formula;
𝒏
̅)𝟐
2 ∑𝒊=𝟏(𝒙𝒊 −𝒙
S=
𝒏−𝟏

Why n-1 is used instead of n in sample

variance?
When we divide by (n −1) when calculating the sample variance, then it turns out that the

average of the sample variances for all possible samples is equal the population variance. So

the sample variance is what we call an unbiased estimate of the population variance. If instead
we were to divide by n (rather than n −1) when calculating the sample variance, then the

average for all possible samples would NOT equal the population variance. Dividing by n does

not give an “unbiased” estimate of the population standard deviation. Dividing by n−1 satisfies

this property of being “unbiased”, but dividing by n does not. Therefore we prefer to divide by

n-1 when calculating the sample variance.

ERRORS IN STATISTICS:
In any survey two types of error are likely to occur which are:

(i) Sampling error and (ii) Non-sampling error.

SAMPLING ERROR:
The difference between the value of sample
statistic and the value of the corresponding
population parameter is called sampling error. In
case of mean,
Sampling error=𝒙 ̅−𝝁
Such errors are likely to occur due to (i) improper
selection of sample, (ii) substitute of a sample
unit by another. (iii) faulty demarcation of
statistical units and (iv) high variability of a
population and wrong method of estimation.
NON-SAMPLING ERROR
The errors that occur in the collection, recording
and the tabulation of the data is called non
sampling errors. Such errors are likely to occur
 due to (i) improper definition of various terms. (ii)
Incomplete questionnaire and defective methods
of interviewing (iii) personal bias of investigator.
(iv) Lack of qualified and trained investigators and
failure of respondents. (v) Improper coverage and
incomplete response (vi) error in compilation and
tabulation.
In a census, sampling error is completely absent
so that total error is non-sampling error.
However, a sample survey contains both sampling
and non-sampling errors.

SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION

Definition:
The probability distribution of a sample statistic
is known as sampling distribution of that sample
statistic.
For example, the probability distribution of
sample mean 𝒙 ̅ is called the sampling distribution
of mean. The sampling distributions of a statistic
depend on the distribution of the population, the
size of the sample, and the method of sample
selection.
Interpretation:
Consider a population having N members from
which n samples are drawn from it either with
replacement or without replacement. If the
samples are drawn without replacement then
possible number of samples will be C(N,n), on the
other hand, if the samples are drawn with
replacement then possible number of samples
will be Nn. if k number of samples are formed
then for each k samples we can compute sample
̂ . Let these are𝜽
statistic 𝜽 ̂ 𝟏, 𝜽
̂ 𝟐, 𝜽
̂ 𝟑, … … . , 𝜽
̂ 𝒌 . Each
sample statistic possesses certain probability.
Hence the distribution of these statistic and their
corresponding probability in the form of table,
graph etc. is called sampling distribution of
sample statistic.

SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE MEANS;

Let us consider a population having N members
from which n members are selected with or
without replacement. If the samples are drawn
with replacement then possible number of
samples will be Nn and if those are selected
without replacement then possible number of
samples will be C(N,n). Each sample has their
corresponding means, suppose these means
̅̅̅̅,
𝒙𝟏 𝒙 ̅̅̅̅…………,𝒙
𝟐, ̅̅̅.
𝒌 Every mean possesses their
corresponding probabilities. The distribution of
these means and their probabilities in the form of
table, or graph or by any means is known as
sampling distribution of sample means.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE:
A population consists of the values 1, 2,5.if
samples of size n=2 randomly selected with
replacement from the population 1,2,5. Identify
the specific sampling distribution of the mean.
Also find the mean of this sampling distribution.
Do these mean targets the value of the
population mean?

Solution;
If n =2 samples are drawn from a population 1,2, 5
with replacement possible samples so formed will
be:

(1,1),(1,2),(1,5)(2,2),(2,1),(2,5),(5,5),(5,2)(5,1).
Since population mean is equal to the mean of sampling
distribution of sample means (mean of the sample means) so
sample means target the value of population mean.

Possible samples Means=𝑥̅ probability

(1,1) 1 1/9
(1,2) 1.5 1/9
(1,5) 3 1/9
(2,2) 2 1/9
(2,1) 1.5 1/9
(2,5) 3.5 1/9
(5,5) 5 1/9
(5,1) 3 1/9
(5,2) 3.5 1/9
Mean of sample means 2.7
(𝜇𝑥̅ ) =𝑥̿
Population mean 2.7

2. A rowing team consists of four rowers who weigh 152, 156,

160, and 164 pounds. Find all possible random samples with
replacement of size two and compute the sample mean for each
one. Use them to find the probability distribution, the mean, and
the standard deviation of the sample mean.

Solution
The following table shows all possible samples with
replacement of size two, along with the mean of each:
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