What is sampling theory

What is sampling theory?  Describe it and provide examples to illustrate your definition.  Discuss generalizability as it applies to nursing research.  please include reference.

Explanation:

Speaking of sampling theory, it is a field of statistics that is involved with the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data gathered from random samples of a population under study.  The random samples are selected prior to the knowledge about the population. The data from the samples are analyzed and conclusions are developed from the analysis. The statistical analysis is done on the data obtained from the samples in order to develop theoretical background. Sampling theory is done instead of examining the entire population, the samples are analyzed. The process of obtaining samples is known as sampling and the theory concerning sampling is sampling theory (Muhamma, 2015).

For example, we may wish to draw a conclusion about the percentage of school children who consume junk food every morning. From a population of 800 students, 80 will be selected for the study in order to draw conclusion about junk food consumption from the population

Generalizability in nursing refers to the extension of research findings and conclusions from a nursing study conducted on a sample population of the population at large (Leung, 2015). It is the extent to which the samples are representative of the population under study. For example, when studying the incidence of diabetes among the aged, the samples should give accurate results of the entire population

References

Leung L. (2015). Validity, reliability, and generalizability in qualitative research. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4535087/

Muhammad I.( 2015). Sampling theory. Retrieved from http://itfeature.com/statistics/sampling-theory-introduction-and-reasons-to-sample