Sampling Distribution (2 of 3)
The sampling distribution of the mean for a sample size of
10 was just an example; there is a different sampling distribution for other
sample sizes. Also, keep in mind that the relative frequency distribution
approaches a sampling distribution as the number of samples increases, not as
the sample size increases since there is a different sampling distribution for
each sample size.
A sampling distribution can also be defined as the relative frequency
distribution that would be obtained if all possible samples of a particular
sample size were taken. For example, the sampling distribution of the mean for
a sample size of 10 would be constructed by computing the mean for each of the
possible ways in which 10 scores could be sampled from the population and
creating a relative frequency distribution of these means. although
these two definitions may seem different, they are actually the same: Both
procedures produce exactly the same sampling distribution.