Sampling Once you have made a hypothesis you need to consider how you will test it.Once you have made a hypothesis you need to consider how you will test it. You will need to collect some data and as it is usually unreasonable to collect all of the data we collect a sample.You will need to collect some data and as it is usually unreasonable to collect all of the data we collect a sample. There are different methods of sampling; Random sampling Systematic sampling Stratified sampling Convenience sampling

My Hypothesis : I believe that the words in a broadsheet will be longer than the words in a tabloid To test my hypothesis I need to collect data on the number of letters in a word from a tabloid and a broadsheet. I can’t possibly look at all words (population) so I will need to take a sample using one of the sampling methods. Article from a Tabloid: The Teesside cartoonist who created Bob The Builder is hoping his new cat creation will be another big TV hit with kids. Animator Curtis Jobling has had his latest feline creation – Frankenstein’s Cat – commissioned by the BBC. The former …………………………………………………… Example

Random Sampling  If we use this method of sampling then each word in the article (population) will have an equal chance of being selected.  A random number table or generator needs to be used. Your calculator will probably have a random number generator.  The following numbers have been produced by a random number generator on a calculator: 3, 2, 6, 4, 9, 5  To select words from the sample I will count to the third word and select it.  I will then count along two and select that word  And so on …………….  Until you have selected enough words Article from a Tabloid: The Teesside cartoonist who created Bob The Builder is hoping his new cat creation will be another big TV hit with kids. Animator Curtis Jobling has had his latest feline creation – Frankenstein’s Cat – commissioned by the BBC. The former …………………………………………………… cartoonistcreated hiswill Curtislatest

Systematic Sampling Article from a Tabloid: The Teesside cartoonist who created Bob The Builder is hoping his new cat creation will be another big TV hit with kids. Animator Curtis Jobling has had his latest feline creation – Frankenstein’s Cat – commissioned by the BBC. The former …………………………………………………… This method of sampling is similar to random sampling except there is a system involved such as selecting every third word Etc etc ……… Until you have selected enough words cartoonistBobis new willbig

Convenience Sampling Article from a Tabloid: The Teesside cartoonist who created Bob The Builder is hoping his new cat creation will be another big TV hit with kids. Animator Curtis Jobling has had his latest feline creation – Frankenstein’s Cat – commissioned by the BBC. The former …………………………………………………… This method is not particularly random and simply involves choosing the first piece of data (word) that is there. If you wanted a sample of six words you would just choose the first six The Teesside cartoonist who created Bob

Stratified Sampling This type of sampling can be used when the data can be categorised In our example the data can be categorised into article topics e.g. sports articles, political articles, celebrity articles ………… The whole sample is then taken using all categories but each little sample size is proportional to the size of the category its taken from. E.g. if 10% of the paper was on sport then 10% of the whole sample should be from sporting articles.