Exercise 5 Page 614

A population consists of all the members of a group of interest. A sample is a subset of the population.

Convenience sample.

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A population consists of all the members of a group of interest. Since it may be impractical to examine every member of a population, a sample — a subset of the population — is sometimes selected to represent the population. The sample can then be analyzed to draw conclusions about the entire population.

Let's consider our situation.

The owners of a chain of 260 retail stores want to assess employee job satisfaction. Employees from 12 stores near the headquarters are surveyed.

Here, the population consists of the employees who work in the chain of retail stores. The sample consists of the employees who work in the 12 stores near the headquarters. Samples can be classified into different categories.

Name	Characteristic
Random Sample	Each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
Self-selected Sample	Members volunteer to be included in the sample.
Systematic Sample	Members are selected according to a specified interval from a random starting point.
Stratified Sample	The population is first divided into smaller groups that share a similar characteristic. Members are then randomly selected from each group.
Cluster Sample	The population is first divided into groups, called clusters. All of the members in one or more of the clusters are selected.
Convenience Sample	Members that are readily available or easy to reach are selected.

In our situation, the employees surveyed are the easiest to reach as they are from 12 stores near the headquarters. This means that we have a convenience sample.

Subchapter links

Communicate Your Answer p.609

Monitoring Progress p.611-613

Exercises p.614-616

Exercise 5 Page 614

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