HST250H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Systematic Sampling, Sampling Frame, Time Series
Document Summary
Lecture 4: sampling & representativeness: in research. When we want to know something, we have two options: we can"t study/observe everything because time & resource are limited. The number of questions we can ask is restricted. The level of specificity is almost limited (must be clear and precise) Some things are secret/hidden: we can"t study everyone. Usually it"s not practical: even if we could. There will always be measurement error in any observation we make/answer we get. All these problems may be random or systematic: sample. Sampling provides a way to ask only some but get an answer that is generalizable to others. Sample as many as possible/ask as much is practical. Be sure to get the most representative sample possible. We may not know the right question to ask. We may ask the wrong person, look for wrong effect. Poorly selected samples misrepresent population: sampling is about appropriate selection.
