PRACTICAL 12

RESEARCH 2

SAMPLE SIZE
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 A module developed by DepEd-Davao City
Icons were illustrated by

Copyright Page

Writer:

MICHAEL PATAC TUMILAP

Master Teacher I, SHS within CP Garcia ES

Evaluators:

REX A LIM
Team Leader
Davao City National High School

BRYAN L. CANCIO
Master Teacher III National High School

ELSIE E. GAGABE
EPS-Research

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 ________________________________________
Information about this ADM learner’s material

I. Objectives: The learner demonstrates understanding of:

Ia. Content Standards
the description of sample
Ib. Performance Standards The learner is able to:

Describe quantitative research designs, sample,

and data collection and analysis procedures
Ic. Learning Competencies/ The learner:
Objectives
Describes sampling procedure and sample
CS_RS11-IVa-c-2

II. Content / Topic Sample Size

Good day! Welcome to the Inquiries,

Investigation and Immersion (3 Is) Alternative Delivery
Mode (ADM) Module on Sample Size
This module was designed to provide you with
fun and meaningful opportunities for guided and
independent learning at your own pace and time. You
will be enabled to process the contents of the learning
resource while being an active learner.

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 At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. Describe sample size; and

2. Determine the sample size for a given
situation.

Introduction

Sample size is a frequently-used term in statistics and market research, and one
that inevitably comes up whenever you’re surveying a large population of respondents.
It relates to the way research is conducted on large populations.
When you survey a large population of respondents, you’re interested in the entire
group, but it’s not realistically possible to get answers or results from absolutely
everyone. So you take a random sample of individuals which represents the population
as a whole. The size of the sample is very important for getting accurate, statistically
significant results and running your study successfully (Prieto, Naval &Carey, 2017).
If your sample is too small, you may include a disproportionate number of
individuals which are outliers and anomalies. These twist the results and you don’t get a
fair picture of the whole population. If the sample is too big, the whole study becomes
complex, expensive and time-consuming to run, and although the results are more
accurate, the benefits don’t outweigh the costs (Yamane, 1967).

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Activity No. 1. READ ME!

Instruction: Read the paragraph provided in the box below. As you are done

reading, kindly answer the questions that follow.

Answer the following questions:

1. To whom should Alex Dave plan to conduct a survey?

______________________________________________________.
2. What does the “700 Facebook friends” represent for?
______________________________________________________.
3. How many male and female students are there?
______________________________________________________.

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 Hi! How was it? Were you able to get the right answer? If you
don’t, never feel bad! That was just a
brain exercise!
Now, let us think deeper. Please go back to the previous
activity before answering the questions.

Instruction: Let us process your answers in Activity 1 by answering the questions below:

Guide Questions:

1. If Alex Dave will decide to get a certain number from male and female, how do you

call this representation?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

2. If you want to conduct survey, do you need to ask all your 700 Facebook friends?

Why or why not?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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 Your score in the activity above tells your
background information of the topic in this module which
is sample size. Again, don’t feel bad if you were not able
to answer correctly because I am sure for the next
activities you will get it right since you have learned
some important keywords from this module! Hence,
learning the topic here will now be easier!

Sample Size

How big should my sample be? (Yamane, 1967)

1. Try to get as big of a sample as you can for your study (because the bigger the sample
the better).
2. If your population is size 100 or less, then include the whole population rather than
taking a sample (don't take a sample; include the whole population).

Determining the Sample Size (Chan Shio & Reyes, 2017)

To choose the correct sample size, you need to consider a few different factors
that affect your research, and gain a basic understanding of the statistics involved. You’ll
then be able to use a sample size formula to bring everything together and sample
confidently, knowing that there is a high probability that your survey is statistically
accurate.
The steps that follow are suitable for finding a sample size for continuous or actual
data, data that is counted numerically.

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Stage 1: Consider your sample size variables

a. Population size (N)

How many people are you talking about in total? To find this out, you need to be
clear about who does and doesn’t fit into your group. For example, you are tasked to
know the probability that Congressman X will still win for the upcoming election in
District A, in your survey you must exclude those residents in District A who are not
actually registered voters in the said district and at the same time who are underaged.
In determining the population size (N), the researcher must refer to the reliable
institutions as source of data.

b. Margins of error (Confidence Interval)

Errors are unavoidable, the question is how much error you will allow. The
margin of error, also known as confidence interval, is expressed in terms of mean
numbers. If you have ever seen a political poll on the news, you have seen a confidence
interval and how it’s expressed. For instance, 68% of voters said yes to Presidential
candidate M, with a margin of error of +/- 5%.

c. Confidence level
It deals with how confident you want to be that the actual mean falls within your
margin of error. The confidence level differs according to the field of study. Below is
the table showing the different confident levels and the margin of errors.

Fields of Study Confidence Margin Probability (Alpha)

Level of Error Value
Medical/ Health 99% 1% .01
Research (1% divided by 100%)
Social Research 95% 5% .05
(5% divided by 100%)
Business Research 90% 10% .10
(10% divided by 100%)

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Stage 2: Calculate Sample Size (Glenn, 2002)

Make sure you already have the following requirements:

a. Population Size (N)
b. Target margin of error (e). Depending on what particular field of research the study
is aligned.

Use this Slovin’s formula to compute for the sample size (n)

Where:

n – sample size
N – population size
e – Error (Probability value or Alpha level)

Sample Problem No. 1

The researcher wants to find out the number of sample he wants to take for
a survey on their vaccine preferences for COVID-19 with a population of 1,000
people. He is going to use 95% confidence level since the topic is under social
inquiry.

Step 1. Given:

N = 1,000
e = .05
(.05 probability value is used since the confidence level is 95%, hence the margin
of error is 5%. Refer to the table above)

Step 2. Plug your data into the formula

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Step 3. Round your answer to a whole number (because you cannot sample a fraction
of a person or thing!)
285.71 = 286
This means that from the population of 1,000 people, 286 respondents will
be included in the study.

Sample Problem No. 2

You chose a 90% confidence level to determine the customer’s satisfaction on the
quality of services of one of the big fastfood company in District 1, Davao City with a
population of 2,800. Compute the sample size to be part in the study.

Step 1. Given:

N = 2,800
e = .10
(.10 probability value is used since the confidence level is 90%, hence the margin
of error is 10%. Refer to the table above)

Step 2. Plug your data into the formula

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Step 3. Round your answer to a whole number
96.55 = 97
This means that from the population of 2,800 people, 97 respondents will
be included in the study.

Note: There are many online calculators that may use in computing the sample, some
of these are:
• Raosoft
• Qualtrics

Applying Learned Concepts

Instruction: Determine the sample size for the following research scenario.

1. Suppose that you have a group of 1,800 city government employees and you want to
survey them to find out which tools are best suited to their jobs. You decide to use the
95% confidence level. How many government employees should be included in your
survey?

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2. A group of Medical Doctors want to determine the efficacy level of the new drugs for
diabetes. They choose Toril District to conduct the study with a population of 128
diabetic persons at 99% confidence level. How many diabetic persons should be
included to their study?

How was it? Were you able to get the right

answers? I know you did well in the activity! For you to
thoroughly master the concept in this module, you can
always go back to the activities!
Sample size, as well as the research results, is
expected to speak about the entire population. Hence,
getting the right sample size following the procedure is
very important.

1. Try to get as big of a sample as you can for your study, but if the population is 100 or

less, get the whole population; no need to compute the sample size. However, if the

population is greater than 100, compute the sample size.

2. The confidence level and margin of error differ according to the field of research.

3. Use this basic Slovin’s formula to compute the sample size.

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Instruction: Provide what are asked in each item. Use a separate sheet of paper for your
answer.
1. A researcher plans to conduct a survey to the Junior and Senior High School students
in Brokenshire College Toril, Davao City. If the population is 4,687, find the sample
size for a 5% margin of error.
2. You are asked by a group of businessmen in Davao City to conduct a survey about
customer’s presence on motorcycle model specifically to male residents. Based on
the data from the PSA, Davao City has a total male legal age of 16,250 population.
How many male residents should be part in the survey?

References:

Chan Shio, C.P. O. & Reyes, M.A. T. (2017). Statistics & Probability for Senior High
School. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.
Glenn, S. (2002). "Slovin’s Formula: What is it and When do I use it?"
From StatisticsHowTo.com: Elementary Statistics for the rest of
us! https://www.statisticshowto.com/how-to-use-slovins-formula/.
Prieto, N.G., Naval, V.C., & Carey, T.G. . (2017). Practical Research 2 for Senior High
School (Quantitative). Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing Incorporated.
Yamane, Taro. (1967). Statistics: An Introductory Analysis, 2nd Edition, New York:
Harper and Row.

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