Population Sample and Sampling Technique

48 text by using pictures. The test given was composition. The results of which 02 04 were then computed statistically.

2.1 Subject of the Study

3.2.1 Population

The definition of population was stated by Hadi 1980:35. He states that “population was a group of people or items from which the data were collected”. The population of this study was the seventh grade students of SMP N 6 Tegal in the academic year of 20102011. The total number of the population was 272 students which was divided into 7 classes. A researcher has to select a sample to study a population more efficiently. Kerlinger 1965:118 states that “a sample was part of a population which was supposed to represent the characteristics of the population”. Brown 1988:114 adds: “a sample is a sub group taken from the population to represent it”. The reasons for choosing the seventh grade students as population in this research were based on the following considerations: 1 The students met the requirement to be used as the population of the study. 2 The students were assumed to have more or less the same ability of English writing. 3 The seventh grade students are taught how to write descriptive text as one of genres must be taught to Junior High School based on School Based Curiculum. 49 I selected two groups of students from the population as the sample in this study. The process of taking the samples would be discussed in the sampling technique.

3.2.2 Sample and Sampling Technique

In order to get the representative sample, a sample that could represent the true situation of the population, the sampling technique must be done in a correct way. “A sample is a small proportion of a population selected for observation and analysis” Best, 1981:8. While according to Arikunto 2002:109, “sample is part of population which is researched.” It is called sample research when we want to generalize the sample research result. According to Gay 1987:101, “sampling was the process of selecting a number of individuals to represent the larger group from which they were selected”. Gay also states that “samples were usually drawn by random samples, each student of the population had an equal chance of being selected for the samples. Sax 1979:183 states that “a sample was selected randomly when every member of the population had an equal chance of being selected in the sample”. Therefore, in this study, I used purposive sampling in selecting the sample since the population was homogeneous. According to Arikunto 2006:139, “purposive sampling is obtained according to certain purposes not based on the stratum, random, or area”. This technique may be conducted because of some considerations, such as : restrictiveness of time, energy, and cost”. Due to the 50 reasons that have just been mentioned, it is convenient in many instances to use samples. I took 2 classes from 7 classes, selected 75 students from the population to be the sample. For this study, class VII B which consisted of 38 students was chosen as the control group, while class VII D which consisted of 37 students was chosen as the experimental group. Both classes were selacted based on the following considerations : 1 The two classes were given the same English materials by the same English teacher. 2 The students of those classes were equal in level of English because the average scores of their English test were same.

3.3 Variables of the Study