Case Analysis
An agency or business that has asked for help gathering data about the number of sport anglers who fish off the coast of Georgia would be wise to use sampling to gather such data. Sampling allows the researcher to collect data on a portion of the population and, based on the data collected, make inferences about the target population. In this situation, sport anglers would be the target population. Because sampling is a cost-effective, reliable, and timely manner of gathering information about the population, it would be a wise pursuit, given the scenario, to aid in the determination of the number of sports anglers who fish off the coast of Georgia. For a sample to be accurate and reliable, it must be representative of the
target population.
One method that could be used to gather this data would be stratified random sampling. Using this method, the researcher would divide the population into strata, based on predefined factors (ex: freshwater or saltwater fishers). Following strata determination, the researcher will randomly choose a number of people from each stratum, proportionate to the size of the strata, and conduct research to obtain
information about whether they fish off the coast of Georgia. This method would allow the sample to accurately represent the target population and thus, would be my top recommendation.
In addition to accuracy, it is important to consider bias. Depending on where the sample is taken from, we must account for bias. For example, if we were to select a convenience sample from those we find at a pier, we could determine that 100% of sport anglers fish at Georgia beaches. However, this would be extremely biased because of our selected sample. To avoid this, it would be wise to participate in random sampling, whether stratified sampling or simple random sampling. Another criterion we must consider is the sample size. In order for a sample to be representative of the entire population, it must be large enough to base a decision on. For example, we can’t poll two people and determine that 50% of the entire population fishes off Georgia’s coast. Our sample size must be large enough to properly represent the entire population with reliability and accuracy. Nearly any of the probability sampling methods would
allow for this to be true, assuming we select a proper sample size.
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