In the theory of finite

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

sampling, a sampling design specifies for every possible sample its

probability Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...

of being drawn.

Mathematical formulation

Mathematically, a sampling design is denoted by the function

P(S)

which gives the probability of drawing a sample

S.

An example of a sampling design

During

Bernoulli sampling In the theory of finite population sampling, Bernoulli sampling is a sampling process where each element of the statistical population, population is subjected to an statistical independence, independent Bernoulli trial which determines whether the ...

P(S)

is given by :

P(S) = q^ \times (1-q)^

where for each element

q

is the probability of being included in the sample and

N_\text(S)

is the total number of elements in the sample

S

and

N_\text

is the total number of elements in the population (before sampling commenced).

Sample design for managerial research

In business research, companies must often generate samples of customers, clients, employees, and so forth to gather their opinions. Sample design is also a critical component of marketing research and employee research for many organizations. During sample design, firms must answer questions such as: * What is the relevant population, sampling frame, and sampling unit? * What is the appropriate margin of error that should be achieved? * How should

sampling error In statistics, sampling errors are incurred when the statistical characteristics of a population are estimated from a subset, or sample, of that population. Since the sample does not include all members of the population, statistics of the sample ...

and non-sampling error be assessed and balanced? These issues require very careful consideration, and good commentaries are provided in several sources.Hansen, Morris H., William N. Hurwitz, and William G. Madow. "Sample Survey Methods and Theory." (1953).

Mathematical formulation

An example of a sampling design

Sample design for managerial research

See also

References

Further reading