MEP Y9 Practice Book B

18 Sampling
18.1 Random Samples
In this section we look at random samples and at the difference between a census
and a sample.

In a census, information on every member of a population is considered. In the

UK, a census is carried out every 10 years. The amount of work required to carry
out a census means that it is an expensive process.

In a sample, a subset of the population is considered to try to obtain information

about a particular problem or issue. Because a sample is normally much smaller
than the whole population, it is quicker and easier to take and to analyse a sample
than to carry out a census of the entire population. Sampling entails less effort
and less expense. In some cases, it is essential to take a sample. For example,
imagine a firm that uses quality control to test the light bulbs it manufactures, to
see how long they last. (If every item was tested until it stopped working they
would have no light bulbs left to sell!) They therefore take samples from the
production and test these to see if the quality is up to standard.

In a random sample, every member of the population is equally likely to be

included in the sample. One way of selecting a sample is to use random numbers,
as demonstrated in the example below. You can find random numbers in books of
statistical tables. You can also generate them using a calculator or a computer.
The diagram shows part of a table of random digits.

Random Digits
98859 09884 45275 09467 93026 32912
26604 95099 93751 00590 93060 64776
82984 65780 94428 30160 86023 52284
70888 14063 96700 83008 17579 71321
77803 61872 86245 68220 66267 01379
11304 01658 82404 46728 35228 49673
53552 51215 45611 83927 00772 99295

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18.1

Example 1
In a class there are 30 pupils. The teacher decides to take a random sample of
5 pupils to estimate the mean height of the pupils in the class. Select a random
sample of 5 pupils from the list.
1 Alan 10 Rachel 19 Sacha 28 Salif
2 Lucy 11 Ben 20 Halim 29 Annie
3 Tom 12 Emma 21 Daniella 30 Karen
4 Azar 13 Hannah 22 Joseph
5 Jayne 14 Grace 23 Anna
6 Nadima 15 Miles 24 Sophie
7 Matthew 16 James 25 Kathryn
8 Sushi 17 Joshua 26 Helen
9 Mohammed 18 Lisa 27 Fatoumata

Solution
To take a random sample you need to use a list of random digits, as follows:

3 4 5 4 7 3 0 7 7 1 4 0 2 6 0 5 8 8 8 5 6 6 4 5

34 54 73 7 71 40 26 5 88 85 66 45

5 7 6 0 2 7 8 2 7 6 1 5

57 60 27 82 76 15

The digits are taken in pairs to form 2-digit numbers, as shown above. All those
numbers greater than 30 are discarded (as there are 30 pupils on the list). The
process is continued until 5 different numbers between 1 and 30 have been obtained.

So the sample will be made up of the following pupils:

7 Matthew
26 Helen
5 Jayne
27 Fatoumata
15 Miles

Example 2
Discuss whether or not the following situations produce random samples.
(a) Mark is conducting a survey for a magazine. He stops people at random on a
Saturday morning at his local shopping centre.
(b) Granny Taylor's National Lottery numbers.

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Solution
(a) To produce a random sample, every member of the population must have an
equal chance of being selected. In the case of Mark's sample, he is excluding
people who are at work on that Saturday, as well as other people who haven't
gone to that shopping centre. So although Mark is stopping people at
random, he is not producing a random sample.
(b) Most people use personal reasons when they select their National Lottery
numbers. Granny Taylor may, for example, have used the number of
grandchildren that she has, their birthdays, the number of her house, etc. If
that is the case then she has not selected a random sample. However, if she
bought a 'Lucky Dip' from her local shop then the computerised National
Lottery till should have produced a random sample.
Note: For small populations it is relatively easy to produce a random sample.
Simply number every member of the population, write those numbers on
pieces of paper and put them into a hat or tombola. Mix them well and ask
someone to pick out as many numbers as you need for your sample, then take
the corresponding items from the population. This process clearly becomes
unmanageable when we investigate large populations, which is why we tend
then to use random number generators.

Exercises
When using random number tables in the following questions, work from left to
right along the top row of numbers, then similarly along subsequent rows.

1. Use the random digits below to select a second sample of 5 from the class in
Example 1.
7 1 9 5 4 3 5 9 1 6 8 4 5 3 2 1 7 6 6 0 1 2 3 3 7 0 2 2
6 3 7 1 3 5 3 3 2 3 6 5 2 4 6 5 1 1 3 0 8 5 7 3 9 6 5 5

2. Use the table of random numbers shown at the start of this unit to select a
sample of 10 pupils from the list in Example 1.

3. There are 10 competitors in an athletics event. Their names are:

Jimmy Jump Harold Hammer Tom Throw
Dick Discus Harry Hop Paul Putt
Sam Shot Liam Long Jake Javelin
Victor Vault
(a) Number the competitors from
1 Jimmy Jump 2 Harold Hammer ............
10 Victor Vault

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18.1

(b) Use the following list of random digits to select a random sample of 3
of the competitors for drug testing.
26 60 49 50 99 93 75 10
05 90 93 06 06 47 76 82
98 46 57 80 94 42 83 01
60 86 02 35 22 84 70 88

4. A council wants to talk to the residents of a street to discuss a proposed

traffic calming scheme. The houses in the street are numbered from 1 to 57.
Use the list of random digits in question 1 to identify a random sample of
10 of the houses for the council to visit.

5. In another road the houses are numbered from 1 to 539.

Use the list of random numbers in question 1 to identify a random sample of
6 houses for the council to visit.

6. A telephone directory has 250 pages. On each page there are 400 names.
(a) Describe how you could use random numbers to select a random
sample from the telephone book.
(b) Explain why the sample is not a random sample from the whole
population of the area.

7. The ages, in years, of the members of a computer club are listed below.
Dee 12 Max 16 Ollie 18
Denise 14 Nazir 15 James 11
Tom 16 Jane 17 Hannah 14
Holly 11 Ferdi 11 Gemma 13
Richard 15 Kim 14 Nadia 16
Jai 13 Grant 12 Hugh 14
Victor 13 Juliette 13 Ben 13
Peter 14 Nigel 14 Ali 15

(a) Number the club members from 1 Dee, 2 Max, .... 24 Ali.
(b) Use the list of random digits in question 1 to generate a random
sample of 5 club members and calculate the mean age for your
sample.
(c) Use the list of random digits in question 1 in reverse order (i.e. 5 5
6 9, etc.) to generate a second random sample of 5 club members.
Calculate the mean age for this new sample.
(d) Compare the two samples and the two means.

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8. (a) Describe the advantages of using a census rather than a sample.

(b) Describe the disadvantages of using a census rather than a sample.

9. Mr May wants to know the mean IQ of the pupils in his class.

Would you recommend that he uses a sample or a census?
State which you would use, and explain why.

10. A large school has 1800 pupils. The headteacher wants to find out how far
the pupils have to travel to school. Advise him whether to carry out a census
or to use a sample. Explain why you give this advice.

18.2 Sampling Techniques

In this section we look at two further techniques for sampling: systematic sampling
and quota sampling.

A systematic sample is taken by sampling at regular intervals.

A quota sample is when the different categories that make up the population are
represented according to their proportion within the overall population.
A typical use of quota sampling is in opinion poll surveys where there is a need to
reflect the way the population breaks down between the two genders, into different
age groupings, into cultural and ethnic backgrounds, etc. The choice of people
selected from each category is left to the person collecting the information.

We will use the class from Example 1 at the beginning of this unit to demonstrate
how to use these sampling techniques. The names are listed again below:

1 Alan 10 Rachel 19 Sacha 28 Salif

2 Lucy 11 Ben 20 Halim 29 Annie
3 Tom 12 Emma 21 Daniella 30 Karen
4 Azar 13 Hannah 22 Joseph
5 Jayne 14 Grace 23 Anna
6 Nadima 15 Miles 24 Sophie
7 Matthew 16 James 25 Kathryn
8 Sushi 17 Joshua 26 Helen
9 Mohammed 18 Lisa 27 Fatoumata

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18.2

Example 1
Select a systematic sample of size
(a) 6 (b) 5
from the class.

Solution
(a) As there are 30 pupils in the class, and we want a sample of 6, we calculate
30 ÷ 6 = 5 . We can then obtain our sample of size 6 by selecting every 5th
member of the class.
This would give:
5 Jayne
10 Rachel
15 Miles
20 Halim
25 Kathryn
30 Karen

(b) For a sample of size 5 we could select every 6th member of the class:
6 Nadima
12 Emma
18 Lisa
24 Sophie
30 Karen
You can select a systematic sample of size 6 by choosing any of the first 5 items as
a starting point and then taking every 5th item thereafter. For example, in part (a)
we could have started with pupil number 2 (Lucy) and then selected pupils number
7, 12, 17, 22 and 27. This would have generated the sample
Lucy, Matthew, Emma, Joshua, Joseph, Fatoumata.
Similarly, starting with pupil number 4 (Azar) in part (b) would have generated the
sample
Azar, Rachel, James, Joseph, Salif.

Example 2
Create a quota sample of size 10 from the class.

Solution
Note that the class contains 12 boys and 18 girls.
As the ratio of boys to girls is 2 to 3 in the class, they must be in the same ratio in
the sample.
So for a sample of 10 we need 4 boys and 6 girls. These do not need to be chosen

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at random, and so could be:

Alan Lucy
Tom Jayne
Azar Nadima
Matthew Sushi
Rachel
Emma

If the teacher is selecting the pupils then it is possible that they may choose their
favourite 4 boys and 6 girls, which would introduce some bias to the sample. It is
best to avoid this possibility by selecting 4 boys randomly from the group of 12
boys, likewise for the girls. This produces a stratified random sample. We will
look at stratified random samples in more detail in section 18.3

Exercises
1. Select a systematic sample of size 10 from the class used in Example 1.

2. There are 400 trees in a plantation. All the trees have been planted in rows.
Describe how to create a systematic sample of 25 trees.

3. The houses in a street are numbered from 1 to 340.

Describe how to create a systematic sample of size 20.

4. A theatre group has 40 members of whom 15 are boys. A quota of size 8 is

to be interviewed. How many girls and how many boys should be included
in the sample?

5. Is a quota sample also a random sample?

6. Explain why a systematic sample is not a random sample.

7. A company employs the following numbers of staff in 3 categories:

Management 10
Technical 20
Administrative 20
How many from each category should be included in a quota sample of size:
(a) 10 (b) 5 (c) 25 ?

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18.2

8. Refer to the members of the computer club in question 7 of Exercise 18.1.

Create systematic samples of size:
(a) 8 (b) 6 (c) 4
from the list of members.

9. In a street the homes numbered 1 to 70 are houses and those numbered 71 to

90 are bungalows.
(a) Which home numbers would you include in a systematic sample of
size 18 ?
(b) How many bungalows would you include in a quota sample of
size 18 ?
(c) Comment on the number of bungalows included in each sample.

10. For the homes described in question 9, use the random number generator on
a calculator or computer to create a random sample of size 18.
How does the number of bungalows included in this sample compare with
the samples used in question 9 ?

18.3 Stratified Random Samples

A stratified random sample is similar to a quota sample. The key difference is that
the representatives from each category are chosen at random. In the previous
section we looked at a quota sample that was made up of 4 boys and 6 girls.
In the quota sample the first 4 boys from the list were chosen and then the first
6 girls.
In a stratified random sample the 4 boys should be selected randomly from the 12
boys in the class. In the same way, the 6 girls should be selected randomly from
the 18 girls in the class.

Example 1
Take a stratified random sample of size 5 from the class considered in the earlier
sections.

Solution
The class consists of 18 girls and 12 boys, 30 pupils altogether. We want a sample
5 1 1
of size 5 so we need to include = of the girls, and of the boys. This
30 6 6
means that we need to choose 3 girls and 2 boys.

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We choose a random sample of 3 girls. The girls in the class are:

1 Lucy 7 Hannah 13 Sophie
2 Jayne 8 Grace 14 Kathryn
3 Nadima 9 Lisa 15 Helen
4 Sushi 10 Sacha 16 Fatoumata
5 Rachel 11 Daniella 17 Annie
6 Emma 12 Anna 18 Karen
Using random digits gives:

9 2 7 3 0 3 3 8 5 9 0 0 3 8 6 8 6 3 0 9 3 6 9 9 7 9 1 5

3 9 15

So the sample will contain:

3 Nadima
9 Lisa
15 Helen

The boys are:

1 Alan 5 Mohammed 9 Joshua
2 Tom 6 Ben 10 Halim
3 Azar 7 Miles 11 Joseph
4 Matthew 8 James 12 Salif

Using random digits gives:

2 4 2 1 5 6 7 4 9 3 7 4 2 9 8 0 0 7 3 6 8 9 5 1 7 5 2 7

2 1 2 4 4 0 0 7 3 4 9 2 5 1 0 2

7 2

Note that the second 7 is ignored.

So the sample will also contain:
7 Miles
2 Tom

The complete stratified random sample will therefore consist of

Nadima, Lisa, Helen, Miles and Tom.

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18.3

Example 2
A company has a total of 360 employees in four different categories:
Managers 36
Drivers 54
Administrative Staff 90
Production Staff 180
How many from each category should be included in a stratified random sample of
size 20 ?

Solution
20 1
To create a sample of size 20 we need or of the workforce. So we take
360 18
this fraction of the number of employees in each category.

1
Managers × 36 = 2
18
1
Drivers × 54 = 3
18
1
Administrative Staff × 90 = 5
18
1
Production Staff × 180 = 10
18

TOTAL = 20

Exercises
1. Create a stratified random sample of size 10 for the class considered in the
Examples.

2. A catering company employs the staff listed in the following table:

Delivery Drivers 12
Cooks 36
Cleaning Staff 4
Sales Staff 8
How many of each category of staff should be included in a stratified
random sample of size 15 ?

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3. A garage services VW and Audi cars. They want to carry out a customer
satisfaction survey.
(a) Explain why they might want to use a stratified random sample.
(b) They have 2000 regular customers of whom 650 have Audi cars.
Describe how to obtain a stratified random sample of size 40 of the
customers to interview.

4. A farmer owns 120 Jersey cows and 180 Friesians. How many of each
breed of cow should he include in a stratified random sample of 50 for a
survey of milk quality?

5. A survey was carried out to determine the size people would prefer for a
new coin. In the survey people were asked to select the size coin they
preferred and indicate their sex by using the letter M or F.
Forty people took part and the results are shown below.

1M
2F 3M 4F

5M
10F
6F 8M
9F
7M
12F 11M
13F
16M
14M 15M 17F
18M
19F
20M 21M
22F
24F 25M 23M
26M
27M
28F
29M
30M 31F
32M
36M
34M 35F
33M
37M 40M
38F 39F

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18.3

(a) How many males and how many females would you include in a
stratified random sample of size 10 ?
(b) Select a stratified random sample of size 10 and use it to estimate the
mean diameter of the coins.

6. There are 1200 pupils in a school. Their methods of transport to school are
given below.
Bus 720
Walk 310
Cycle 90
Car 80
How many pupils from each category should be included in a stratified
random sample of size 50?

7. There are 1500 homes in one part of a city. These homes can be divided
into 3 categories:
Privately owned homes 720
Homes rented from council 592
Homes rented from private landlords 188
The council is to carry out a survey into the quality of homes.
(a) What would be the advantage of using a stratified random sample?
(b) How many homes of each type should be included in a stratified
random sample of size 200 ?

8. (a) Find out how each member of your class travels to school.
(b) Create a stratified random sample of size 10.
(c) Find the time that it takes each of the people in the sample to travel to
school.
(d) Calculate the mean time for your sample.
(e) Compare your results with other people's samples.

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