Sample Size Determination

and Sampling Distribution

 Sample Size Determination
• Denoted by n and it is always a positive integer.

• Use to determine the number of participants to be chosen in a survey.

Criteria Need to be Specified to Determine the
Appropriate Sample Size
• 1 Level of Precision
• 2 Confidence Interval
• 3 Degree of Variability
Criteria Need to be Specified to Determine the
Appropriate Sample Size
• Level of Precision
- Also called sampling error, it is the range in which the true value of the population is
estimated to be.
Criteria Need to be Specified to Determine the
Appropriate Sample Size
• Confidence Interval
- It is a statistical measure of the number of times out of 100 that results can be
expected to be within a specified range
Desired Confidence Level z-score
80% 1.28
85% 1.44
90% 1.65
95% 1.96
99% 2.58
Criteria Need to be Specified to Determine
the Appropriate Sample Size
• Degree of Variability
- The degree of heterogeneity varies greatly, depending on the target population and
the characteristics under consideration.
Methods in Determining the Sample Size
• Estimating the Mean or Average
- The sample size required to estimate the population mean µ to with a level of
confidence with specified margin or error e given by

Where:
Z is the z-score corresponding to level of confidence
e is the level of precision.
Methods in Determining the Sample Size

A soft drink machine is regulated so that the amount of drink dispensed is

approximately normally distributed with a standard deviation equal to 0.5
ounce. Determine the sample size needed if we wish to be 95% confident
that our sample mean will be within +.02 ounce from the true mean.
The z – score for confidence level 95% in the z – table is 1.96.

2
  1.96 (0.5)
𝑛≥ ( 0.02 )   =
Methods in Determining the Sample Size
Estimating Proportion (Infinite Population)
The sample size required to obtain a confidence interval for p with specified margin of error e is
given by

Where:
Z is the z-score corresponding to level of confidence
e is the level of precision.
P is population proportion
Methods in Determining the Sample Size
• Suppose we are doing a study on the inhabitants of a large town, and want
to find out how many households serve breakfast in the mornings. We
don’t have much information on the subject to begin with, so we’re going
to assume that half of the families serve breakfast: this gives us maximum
variability. So p = 0.5. We want 90% confidence and at least 1% precision.

  1 . 65 2  
𝑛≥ (
0. 01 ) 6,806
 Methods in Determining the Sample Size
• Slovin’s Formula (Simplified form of Proportions for finite population)
- Slovin’s formula is used to calculate the sample size n given the
population size and error. It is computed as

Where:
N is the total population
e is the level of precision.
Methods in Determining the Sample Size
•  A researcher plans to conduct a survey about food preference of BSP
students. If the population of students is 485, find the sample size if the
error is 5%.
= 219.21 ≈ 219
Methods in Determining the Sample Size
• Infinite Population Correction
The conservative formula using the strong law of large number.

Where:
Confidence level is 95%
The level of precision is 0.05
Methods in Determining the Sample Size
• If the population is small then the sample size can be reduced slightly.

Where:
n0 is Cochran’s sample size recommendation
N is the population size
Methods in Determining the Sample Size
• A researcher plans to conduct a survey about food preference of BSP
students. If the population of students is 485, find the sample size.

 
= 214.87 ≈ 215
 Sampling Distribution
A sampling distribution is the probability distribution of a statistic derived
from a larger number of samples gathered from a given population. The
sampling distribution of a population is the range of possible results for a
population statistic.
 Properties of the Distribution of Sample
Means
1. The mean of the sample means will be the same as the population mean.
2. The Standard deviation of the sample means will be smaller than the
standard deviation of the population. And it will be equal to the
population standard deviation, divided by the square root of the sample
size.
 Mean of the Sampling Distribution of the
Means
•  The mean of the population µ, is also the mean of the sample taken
from the population. Therefore,

Formula for the mean of the sampling distribution of the means

=
 Variance and
Standard Deviation of sampling distribution of the means

•   variance of sampling distribution of the means is given by the formula

The

=
The standard deviation of sampling distribution of the means is given by the formula

= , n is the number of possible samples

= , n is the sample size
Example:
Suppose a professor gave an 10 – point quiz to a small class of 4 students. The results of the
quiz were 4, 6, 8, 10. Assume that the 4 students constitute the population.

  =7

x
4 16  
2
6
8
36
64 𝜎 =√ ∑ 𝑥 − ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿
10 100
Total = 28 Total = 216
Now if all samples of size 2 are taken with replacement, and the mean of each sample is found, the distribution
is as shown below.

Sample Mean Sample Mean

4, 4 4 8, 4 6
4, 6 5 8, 6 7
4, 8 6 8, 8 8
4, 10 7 8, 10 9
6, 4 5 10, 4 7
6, 6 6 10, 6 8
6, 8 7 10, 8 9
6, 10 8 10, 10 10

  = =7
Sample Sample mean
4, 4 4 -3 9
4, 6 5 -2 4   = = = 2.5
4, 8 6 -1 1
4, 10 7 0 0
6, 44
6, 5
5 -2
-2 4
4
6, -1 1
  = 1.58
6, 66 6
6 -1 1
6,
6, 88 7
7 0
0 0
0
6,
6, 10
10 8
8 1
1 1
1
8,
8, 44 6
6 -1
-1 1
1
8,
8, 66 7
7
0
0 0
0
1 1
  =1.58
8, 8 8
8, 8 8 1 1
8, 10 9 2 4
8, 10 9 2 4
10, 4 7 0 0
10, 4 7 0 0
10, 6 8 1 1
10, 6 8 1 1
10, 8 9 2 4
10, 8 9 2 4
10, 10 10 3 9
10, 10 10 3 9
The frequency of the sample means is as follows

frequency
4 1
5 2
6 3
7 4
8 3
9 2
10 1
The probability distribution is shown below

X 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
P(X)
The frequency of the sample means is as follows

frequency
4 1
5 2
6 3
7 4
8 3
9 2
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 1
Sample Mean
 Central Limit Theorem
• The central limit theorem states that if you have a population with mean μ
and standard deviation σ and take sufficiently large random samples from
the population with replacement , then the distribution of the sample
means will be approximately normally distributed.
• In the same way that the normal distribution can be used to answer
questions about individual values, the central limit theorem can be used to
answer questions about sample means.
Central limit Theorem

As the sample size n increases, the shape of the distribution will

approach to normal distribution.
Central Limit Theorem Formula
•  

z=
Example of Central Limit Theorem
1) The average number of pounds of meat a person consumes a year is 215
pounds. Assume that the standard deviation is 24 pounds and the distribution
is approximately normal. If a sample of 40 individuals is selected, find the
probability that the mean of the sample will less than 224 pound per year.
  z= =

A = 0.4911 + 0.5000
= 0.9911
0 2.37
Example of Central Limit Theorem
2) The average weight of five-year old boys is 22 kilograms. The standard
deviation is 3 kilograms. If 18 boys are randomly selected, find the
probability that the average weight will be greater than 23 kilograms.

  z = = 1.41

A = 0.5000 – 0.4207
= 0.0793
0 1.41
 Learning Resources
• Acelejado M. et al. (2018) Mathematics for the new millennium: Statistics
(ISBN: 971-48-0285-7)
• Bluman (2016) Elementary Statistics. Win C Brown Publishers
• https://bookdown.org/curleyjp0/psy317l_guides/distributions.html
• https://www.mathsisfun.com/data/skewness.html