A Simulation Approach to Teaching Survey Sampling.

The article focuses on teaching survey sampling. Few sociology students have either the necessary background knowledge of probability theory or the opportunity of obtaining it, they are required to become familiar with the idea of sampling and to appreciate the merits of different sampling schemes. Only the best students seem to be capable of resolving these and similar problems through theoretical discussions of sampling. A more practical approach would seem to have educational advantages, especially if related to the theoretical content already taught. SAMP is an interactive program for simulating the results of sampling a large population. The instructor gives the student brief notes on the purpose and arrangement of the program, together with appropriate instructions about connecting to the local interactive computing service. The user begins by choosing one of four sampling procedures and specifies the proportion of the population to be sampled. The program then generates a sample and measures the attitude of the sampled individuals using a Likert scale.