Sampling
What is sampling?
• Sampling involves the selection of a number of
study units from a defined study population.
• When taking a sample, we will be confronted
with the following questions:
• a) What is the group of people or animals
from which we want to draw a sample?
• b) How many people/animal do we need in
our sample?
• c) How will this people/animal be selected?
Definitions
• Target population (reference population): Is that population
about which an investigator wishes to draw a conclusion.
• Study population (population sampled): Population from
which the sample actually was drawn and about which a
conclusion can be made. For Practical reasons the study
population is often more limited than the target population.
In some instances, the target population and the population
sampled are identical.
• Sampling unit: The unit of selection in the sampling process.
For example, in a sample of districts, the sampling unit is a
district; in a sample of persons, a person,
• Study unit: The unit on which the observations will be collected. For
example, persons in a study of disease prevalence, or households, in
a study of family size N.B. The sampling unit is not necessarily the
same as the study unit.
• Sample design: The scheme for selecting the sampling units from
the study population.
Sampling frame: The list of units from which the sample is to be
selected
• The existence of an adequate and up-to-date sampling frame often
defines the study population
Sampling methods
• Sampling methods/Techniques
• An important issue influencing the choice of the most
appropriate sampling method is whether a sampling
frame is available, that is, a listing of all the units that
compose the study population.
Sampling methods
• a) Non-probability sampling methods
Examples:
• 1. Convenience sampling: is a method in which for
convenience sake the study units that happen to be
available at the time of data collection are selected.
• 2. Quota sampling: is a method that insures that a
certain number of sample units from different
categories with specific characteristics appear in
the sample so that all these characteristics are
represented.
Sampling methods
• Purposeful sampling strategies for qualitative studies:
Qualitative research methods are typically used when focusing
on a limited number of informants, whom we select
strategically so that their in-depth information will give
optimal insight into an issue about which little, is known
• Snowball sampling is where research participants recruit
other participants for a test or study. It is used where
potential participants are hard to find. It's called snowball
sampling because (in theory) once you have the ball rolling,
it picks up more “snow” along the way and becomes larger
and larger.
Sampling methods
• Random sampling strategies to collect quantitative
data:
If the aim of a study is to measure variables distributed in
a population (e.g., diseases) or to test hypotheses
about which factors are contributing significantly to a
certain problem, we have to be sure that we can
generalize the findings obtained from a sample to the
total study population. Then, purposeful sampling
methods are inadequate, and probability or random
sampling methods have to be used.
b. Probability sampling methods: They involve
random selection procedures to ensure that each
unit of the sample is chosen on the basis of chance.
All units of the study population should have an
equal or at least a known chance of being included
in the sample.
Probability sampling methods: They involve random
selection procedures to ensure that each unit of
the sample is chosen on the basis of chance. All
units of the study population should have an equal
or at least a known chance of being included in the
sample.
Probability sampling
• 1. Systematic Sampling: Individuals are chosen at
regular intervals (for example, every 5th, 10th, etc.)
from the sampling frame. Ideally we randomly
select a number to tell us where to start selecting
individuals from the list. For example, a systematic
sample is to be selected from 1000 students of a
school. The sample size is decided to be 100. The
sampling fraction is: 100/1000 = 1/10.
• Systematic Sampling is usually less time consuming
• It provides a good approximation
• Should not be used if there is any sort of cyclic
pattern in the ordering of the subjects on the list.
• systematic sampling can be conducted without a
sampling frame (useful in some situations where a
sampling frame is not readily available).
• 2. Stratified sampling: If it is important that the
sample includes representative groups of study
units with specific characteristics (for example,
residents from urban and rural areas), then the
sampling frame must be divided into groups, or
strata, according to these characteristics.
• Some of the reasons for stratifying the population
may be:
• Different sampling schemes may be used in different
strata, e.g. Urban and rural
• Conditions may suggest that prevalence rates will vary
between strata: the overall estimate for the whole
population will be more precise if stratification is
used.
• Administrative reasons may make it easier to carry
out the survey through an organization with a
regional structure.
• 3. Cluster sampling: When a list of groupings of
study units is available (e.g. villages, etc.) or can be
easily compiled, a number of these groupings can
be randomly selected. The selection of groups of
study units (clusters) instead of the selection of
study units individually is called cluster sampling.
Clusters are often geographic units (e.g. districts,
villages) or organizational units (e.g. clinics).
• 4. Multi-Stage Sampling: This method is appropriate
when the population is large and widely scattered.
• The number of stages of sampling is the number of
times a sampling procedure is carried out.
• The primary sampling unit (PSU) is the sampling unit
(or unit of selection in the sampling procedure) in the
first sampling stage;
• The secondary sampling unit (SSU) is the sampling
unit in the second sampling stage, etc. e.g.
Sample size
• The representative of the whole population.
• When you survey a large population of respondents,
you’re interested in the entire group, but it’s not
realistically possible to get answers or results from
absolutely everyone. So you take a random sample of
individuals which represents the population as a whole.
Formula
n= sample size required
N = number of people in the population
e = allowable error (%) or level of precision (0.05)