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Variation in Samples

12 March, 2015 - 12:02
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It was mentioned previously that two or more samples from the same population, taken randomly, and having close to the same characteristics of the population are different from each other. Suppose Doreen and Jung both decide to study the average amount of time students at their college sleep each night. Doreen and Jung each take samples of 500 students. Doreen uses systematic sampling and Jung uses cluster sampling. Doreen's sample will be different from Jung's sample. Even if Doreen and Jung used the same sampling method, in all likelihood their samples would be diferent. Neither would be wrong, however.

Think about what contributes to making Doreen's and Jung's samples diferent.

If Doreen and Jung took larger samples (i.e. the number of data values is increased), their sample results (the average amount of time a student sleeps) might be closer to the actual population average. But still, their samples would be, in all likelihood, different from each other. This variability in samples cannot be stressed enough.