ACCA Applied Knowledge · Management Accounting · Sampling methods
A company wants to survey customers drawn from a complete list of 5,000 account holders. Which sampling method gives every account holder an equal chance of selection and is most exposed to the risk that the sample is geographically scattered, making data collection costly?
Simple random sampling is correct because every account holder has an equal chance of selection, but the chosen individuals may be widely scattered geographically. That makes interviewing or collecting data expensive, unlike cluster sampling, which concentrates units in a few areas to save cost.
- ASimple random samplingCorrect
- BQuota sampling
- CCluster sampling
- DStratified sampling with proportional allocation
Explanation
Simple random sampling gives each item an equal chance, so the selected units can be spread across the whole area, which raises collection costs. Cluster sampling deliberately groups units to reduce travel but does not give every individual an equal chance. Quota sampling is non-random.
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