Advantages of Sampling

[chayan-kathuria]

Sampling brings many advantages in terms of speed and accuracy. While we are inclined to think that studying each individual on the whole population will lead to accuracy, we tend to overlook the many sources of errors that can happen in a study of the whole population. Further, in most cases, it is just not feasible to study the whole population.

A sample can provide accuracy as we will be able to deploy trained field workers on whom we can rely to collect the observations, scientifically monitor the biases and remove them and since we are collecting limited observations, we reduce the possibility of mistakes that come from processing the data. Moreover, the smaller size of the sample means that we can supervise with efficacy and have clean, usable data.

As our analysis will rely on the sample, it’s important that we scientifically approach how we go about selecting samples. However, before we go into sample selection methodologies, let’s look at the errors that can happen while selecting samples.