Prepared by:

MARY GRACE T. GAZA

By the end of this lesson, the learner should be able
to:
Understand the use of the Slovin’s formula in
conducting a study
Manipulate the Slovin’s formula as to be able to
solve for any of the three variables in the formula, if
not given
Statistics is a way of looking at a population’s
behavior by taking a sample. Ideally speaking, it
will always be better to get data from the entire
population as this will be the most accurate of
cases, however, it should always be noted that it is
very difficult to get an entire population to
participate in a study, hence, studies mostly focus
on a certain set of elements in the entire population
(this is then the research’s samples).
Now, given that a population is composed of N elements,
what is an appropriate n sample size for a study to be
reliable?
This is where the Slovin’s formula comes in – this lets you
compute for what would be an acceptable sample size for a
given population.

𝑁
𝑛=
1 + 𝑁𝑒 2
 𝑁
𝑛=
1 + 𝑁𝑒 2
N population
n sample
e margin of error
 This acts as an allowance for (possible) error that
may arise from correspondents / elements.
Example:
A researcher is conducting a survey on the
sleeping habits of Grade 11 students in Union
High School. Currently, there are 375 students
in the batch; at least how many of these
students would the researcher need to answer
her survey if she wants to conduct the study
with a 5% margin of error?
 N = 375
375
n=? 𝑛=
1 + 0.9375
e = 5% = 0.05
𝑁 375
𝑛= 𝑛=
1 + 𝑁𝑒 2 1.9375
375
𝑛= 𝑛 = 193.55 ≈ 194
1 + 375(0.05)2

375
𝑛=
1 + 375(0.0025)
The researcher would need approximately 194 out of the 375 students to
answer her survey so that she can confidently conduct it with a 5% margin
of error.
There would be times, however, that the
actual sample count is given as well as
the margin of error, but the population
count is missing – plugging in the given
values to the original equation and
manipulating it to isolate N would be able
to let one identify the original (supposed)
population count.
Example:
A researcher is conducting a survey on the
sleeping habits of Grade 11 students of Union
High School. The researcher, with a 3% margin
of error, was able to get around 200
correspondents from the population; how many
students were in the batch to start with?
 𝑁
200 =
1 + 0.0009𝑁
N=?
𝑁
n = 200 (1 + 0.0009N) 200 = 1+0.0009𝑁 (1 + 0.0009N)

e = 3% = 0.03
𝑁 (1 + 0.0009N)200 = N
𝑛=
1 + 𝑁𝑒 2 200 + 0.18N = N
200 = N – 0.18N
𝑁 200 = 0.82N
200 =
1+𝑁(0.03)2
𝑁 200 0.82𝑁
200 = =
1+𝑁(0.0009) 0.82 0.82
N = 243.90 ≈ 244

There is approximately 244 total students in the batch

given the information.
Similar to cases where n and e are
present and N must be solved for, it is
also possible that N and n are given,
but e has to be solved for.
Example:
A researcher is conducting a survey on the
sleeping habits of Grade 11 students in Union
High School. The researcher was able to get
300 correspondents out of the 450 total
students – what margin of error could she
claim to have used?
 (1 + 450𝑒 2 )300 = 450
300 + 135,000𝑒 2 = 450
N = 450
135,000𝑒 2 = 450 − 300
n = 300
e=? 135,000𝑒 2 = 150
𝑁
𝑛=
1 + 𝑁𝑒 2 135,000𝑒 2 150
=
135,000 135,000
450
300 = 𝑒 2 = 0.0011
1+450𝑒 2
450
(1 + 450𝑒 2 ) 300 = (1 + 450𝑒 2 )
1+450𝑒 2
𝑒 2 = 0.0011
The researcher can claim that she
𝒆 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟑𝟑𝟑 = 𝟑. 𝟑𝟑%
used an approximate of 3.33% for her
margin of error.
Complete the table below using the Slovin’s formula:
N n e
340 5%
325 5%
340 365
250 300
150 5%
Complete the table below using the Slovin’s formula:
N n e
2267 340 5%
325 180 5%
340 365 1.41%
250 300 2.65%
150 110 5%