On the sample size thingy...
How many of you have taken statistics courses? Do you think that, in doing surveys and market research companies will draw on from huge sample pools (relative to the whole population)? One does not always have the luxury of that. Again, it all depends on the confidence level one have in the samples and how representative they are.
Sample Size (SS)= Z^2*(p)*(1-p)/c^2
where:
Z = Z value (e.g. 1.96 for 95% confidence level)
p = percentage picking a choice, expressed as decimal
(.5 used for sample size needed)
c = confidence interval, expressed as decimal
(e.g., .04 = ±4)
No foreign sky protected me,
No stranger's wing shielded my face.
I stand as witness to the common lot,
survivor of that time, that place.
- From 'Requiem' by Anna Akhmatova
