Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Sampling Design part 1

Today we began to look at sampling design but didn't make it all the way through due to activities schedule. We covered the first two types of sampling: convenience/judgmental sampling and simple random sampling.

Samples represent the population, and thus, are smaller than the population. We take samples of data because there are many instances were we cannot, or don't have time to, collect data for the entire population. Convenience samples are based on what is nearby, or what we feel is "random." These are never actually random, since they come from within our minds, and our minds are not random devices. Simple random samples, on the other hand, come from a random number generator. They are random because there is, theoretically speaking, no way to determine who will be chosen for the sample before they are chosen.

The three other types of samples that we will discuss tomorrow are stratified random samples, systematic random samples, and clustered random samples. Like today, we will do this with the smiley face activity. Bring those sheets tomorrow!

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