PROBABILITY SAMPLING

• THE RANDOM SELECTION OF ELEMENTS FROM A

POPULATION
• RANDOM SAMPLING INVOLVES A SELECTION PROCESS IN
WHICH EACH ELEMENT IN THE POPULATION HAS AN EQUAL,
INDEPENDENT CHANCE OF BEING SELECTED
• PROBABILITY OF EACH UNIT TO BE SAMPLE AVAILABLE
• RIGOROUS SAMPLING STRATEGY AND RESULT IN
REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE
 PROBABILITY SAMPLING METHODS

• SIMPLE RANDOM SAMPLING/ LOTTERY METHOD

• STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLING

• CLUSTER SAMPLING

• SYSTEMATIC/ QUAZI RANDOM SAMPLING

 SIMPLE RANDOM SAMPLING

• EPSEM METHOD
• BETTER RESULTS WITH HOMOGENOUS POPULATION
• SAMPLE SELECTED IS NOT SUBJECT TO RESEARCHERS’ BIASES
• ENSURE THAT DIFFERENCES IN THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE
SAMPLE AND THE POPULATION ARE PURELY A FUNCTION OF
CHANCE
 MERITS

• NEEDS MINIMUM KNOWLEDGE ABOUT POPULATION

• FREE OF RESEARCHER’S BIAS

• EASY TO CALCULATE PROBABILITY IN CASE OF FINITE

POPULATION
 DEMERITS

• CANNOT ENSURE REPRESENTATIVENESS

• LABORIOUS TASK OF PREPARING SAMPLING FRAME

• MAY BE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED’ IN CASE OF FIELD SURVEY

 SYSTEMATIC RANDOM SAMPLING

• SELECTION OF EVERY Kth CASE FROM A LIST OR GROUP

(UNIVERSE), WHERE K IS SAMPLING INTERVAL

• SIZE OF THE POPULATION/ UNIVERSE (N) DIVIDED BY

SAMPLE SIZE (n) GIVES SAMPLING INTERVAL (K)

• THE FIRST ELEMENT SHOULD BE SELECTED RANDOMLY BY

LOTTERY METHOD
• GREATER EFFICIENCY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY ARRANGING

UNITS IN THE POPULATION SO THAT SIMILARITIES BETWEEN

CLOSE UNITS ARE MORE THAN DISTANT UNITS

 MERITS

• BETTER DISTRIBUTION AND REPRESENTATION OF UNITS

• INVOLVES FAR LESS WORK

 DEMERITS

• NOT TRULY RANDOM, EXCEPT FOR FIRST ITEM SELECTION

• RARELY, THE SELECTION CAN BE EXTREMELY BIASED

 STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLING
• SAMPLING DESIGN WHERE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS DIVIDED
INTO GROUPS OR STRATA SUCH THAT
- THERE IS GREAT HOMOGENITY WITHIN EACH STRATUM
- THERE IS GREATER HETEROGENITY BETWEEN EACH
STRATA
• RESEARCHER GROUP TOGETHER ELEMENTS BELONGING TO
A STRATUM AND SELECT RANDOMLY THE DESIRED NUMBER
OF ELEMENTS
 MERITS

• SUPERIOR TO SIMPLE AND SYSTEMATIC RANDOM SAMPLING

• SAMPLE SIZE CAN BE KEPT SMALL WITHOUT LOSING

ACCURACY

• COMPARISON CAN BE MADE BETWEEN STRATA

 DEMERITS

• PROPORTIONATE STRATIFICATION NEED ACCURATE

INFORMATION REGARDING POPULATION

• CAN BE STRENOUS AND COSTLY

 CLUSTER SAMPLING
• SAMPLING DESIGN WHERE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS DIVIDED INTO
GROUPS OR CLUSTER SUCH THAT
- THERE IS GREAT HETEROGENITY WITHIN EACH STRATUM
- THERE IS GREATER HOMOGENITY BETWEEN EACH STRATA
• ALSO CALLED MULTISTAGE SAMPLING
• INITIALLY, IDENTIFY THE CLUSTERS AS SAMPLING UNITS AND
SELECT RANDOMLY

• EACH CLUSTER IS A MINIATURE OF THE SAMPLED UNIVERSE

• THEN, FROM EACH SELECTED CLUSTER, SELECT THE SAMPLES

BY RANDOM SAMPLING
 MERITS

• LESS EXPENSIVE AND TIME CONSUMING IN CASE OF FIELD

SURVEYS

• DO NOT REQUIRE COMPLETE INFORMATION OF THE

UNIVERSE

• CLUSTERS CAN BE USED AGAIN AND AGAIN

 DEMERITS
• NOT AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF THE UNIVERSE