Sampling

The Sampling tool selects a sample of values from a population.  This sample can be chosen randomly or from a specific period.  If selecting a random sample, select Random, then enter the number of values to be selected from the population.  To only select data from a specific period, say every Sunday from a list of monthly sales data, select Periodic then enter "7" for Period. 

The sample dataset below contains daily sales figures for chocolate bars from a small candy store.  Generate a sample of five randomly selected values from the population of 31 values. 

To generate a random sample:

1.  On the XLMiner Analysis ToolPak pane, click Sampling
2. Enter B1:B32 for Input Range.
3. Since cell B1 contains the column heading, select Labels. 
4. Select Random.
5. Enter 5 for Number of Samples 
6. Enter D2 for Output Range. 
7. Click OK.

The results are below.

These are five randomly selected values from the total population contained in cells B2:B32.

To generate a sample from a specific period, say from every Sunday:                                

1.  On the XLMiner Analysis ToolPak pane, click Sampling
2. Enter B1:B32 for Input Range.
3. Since cell B1 contains the column heading, select Labels.  
4. Select Periodic.
5. Assuming January 1 fell on a Monday, the first Sunday would fall on January 7, the 2nd Sunday would fall on the 14th, etc.  Enter 7 for Period. 
6. Click OK.

The results are below.

Note that each sampled value is from the 7th period in rows 8, 15, 22, and 29.