Question

A researcher wants to estimate the percentage of all adults that have used the Internet to seek pre-purchase information in the past 30 days, with a tolerable sampling error (E) of 0.03 and a confidence level of 95%. If prior secondary data indicated that 25% of all adults had used the Internet for such a purpose, what is the required sample size for the new study

Answer 1

Answer:

The required sample size for the new study is 801.

Step-by-step explanation:

In a sample with a number n of people surveyed with a probability of a success of $\pi$, and a confidence level of $1-\alpha$, we have the following confidence interval of proportions.

$\pi \pm z\sqrt{\frac{\pi(1-\pi)}{n}}$

In which

z is the zscore that has a pvalue of $1 - \frac{\alpha}{2}$.

The margin of error is:

$M = z\sqrt{\frac{\pi(1-\pi)}{n}}$

25% of all adults had used the Internet for such a purpose

This means that $\pi = 0.25$

95% confidence level

So $\alpha = 0.05$, z is the value of Z that has a pvalue of $1 - \frac{0.05}{2} = 0.975$, so $Z = 1.96$.

What is the required sample size for the new study?

This is n for which M = 0.03. So

$M = z\sqrt{\frac{\pi(1-\pi)}{n}}$

$0.03 = 1.96\sqrt{\frac{0.25*0.75)}{n}}$

$0.03\sqrt{n} = 1.96\sqrt{0.25*0.75}$

$\sqrt{n} = \frac{1.96\sqrt{0.25*0.75}}{0.03}$

$(\sqrt{n})^2 = (\frac{1.96\sqrt{0.25*0.75}}{0.03})^2$

$n = 800.3$

Rounding up:

The required sample size for the new study is 801.