Question

A brief summary of the population- The cohort of the present study is based on a total population of all the final semester nursing students from 2015 through 2018. Which includes a total number of nursing students preparing for the State Board exam, approximately 5000.

The sample size to be used in the study, including the process you used to calculate the sample size-

Answer 1

For the given scenario of the cohort study, we are given a population of 5000 nursing students from the year 2015 through 2018. This means the entire population is given for the four years 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. If we assume that an equal number of final semester nursing students appeared for each year, then approximately 5000/4 = 1250 students appeared for each year. During the selection of sample size, we should include the same proportion of students from each year final semester. By using thumb rule, we will select about 10% of the students from each year final semester. This means about 1250*10% = 1250*0.10 = 125 nursing students we will select from each year. For the given four years, a total sample size will be 125*4 = 500 students out of total 5000 students. We will use a random sampling technique for the selection of 125 students from each year. The final sample size to be used in this study would be 500 students approximately. If the number of nursing students appeared for the final semester for each year is not approximately equal in size, then we will assign proper proportions during the selection of random samples from each year. If we use a small sample size or inadequate sample size, then there is a possibility of getting biased results for the given research studies. For most of the research study, researchers use 10% of population size as a sample for getting unbiased results.