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Home > Statistics Every Writer Should Know > The Stats Board > Discusssion

sample
Message posted by beqy on September 19, 2000 at 12:00 AM (ET)

What is the difference between probability and non probability sample


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Re: sample
Message posted by JG on September 20, 2000 at 12:00 AM (ET)

In a probability sample each item in the population has a known probability of being chosen. Only probability samples can be used to make statistical predictions. Non-probabilistic samples are judgement samples - where judjement or intuition is used to choose a sample and chunks or convenience samples - where you use what ever you have. In actual practice our sampling process is only partially probilistic but we ASSUME that we have a probability sample.
The simplest probability sample is a simple random sample - each member of the population has an equal probability of being chosen. For more detail, see some of the references at (129.2.115.68/stats) .



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