Editing Survey methodology (section)

==Selecting samples==
{{Main|Survey sampling}}
The sample is chosen from the sampling frame, which consists of a list of all members of the population of interest.<ref name="Shaughnessy2011">{{cite book|last1=Shaughnessy|first1=J.|last2=Zechmeister|first2=E.|last3=Jeanne|first3= Z.|title=Research methods in psychology|url=https://archive.org/details/researchmethodsp00shau|url-access=limited|edition=9th|year=2011|publisher=[[McGraw Hill]]|location=New York, NY|pages=[https://archive.org/details/researchmethodsp00shau/page/n179 161]–175|isbn=9780078035180}}</ref> The goal of a survey is not to describe the sample, but the larger population. This generalizing ability is dependent on the representativeness of the sample, as stated above. Each member of the population is termed an element. There are frequent difficulties one encounters while choosing a representative sample. One common error that results is [[selection bias]]. Selection bias results when the procedures used to select a sample result in over representation or under representation of some significant aspect of the population. For instance, if the population of interest consists of 75% females, and 25% males, and the sample consists of 40% females and 60% males, females are under represented while males are overrepresented. In order to minimize selection biases, [[stratified random sampling]] is often used. This is when the population is divided into sub-populations called strata, and random samples are drawn from each of the strata, or elements are drawn for the sample on a proportional basis.