In this tutorial, you will learn How to Select a Random Sample in Google Sheets
To select a random Sample in Google Sheets when you have a random dataset you can use the in-built RAND() function which will produce random numbers for your data.
Let’s see How to use the RAND() function with an example in the following step-by-step tutorial.
How to Select a Random Sample in Google Sheets: Step-by-Step Guide
Enclosed are the steps to Select a Random Sample in Google Sheets :
Step 1: Open Google Sheets and prepare your data set
As a first step, you need to open your Google Sheet with data where you need to select a Random Sample.
For this example, we will use the below dataset.
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-XXRXjPNT/w:246/h:258/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-180.png)
Step 2: Prepare a list of Random values
To create a list of Random values uses the following function :
=RAND()
Select a Cell and type =RAND() in the function area fx and press enter
![How to Select a Random Sample in Google Sheets](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-Sxgs0_N2/w:auto/h:auto/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-181.png)
Confirm the suggested auto-fill to apply the formula on the rest of the cells in column B2.
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I--QpIOjex/w:auto/h:auto/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-182.png)
Step 3: Copy Calculated Random values to another Column
Select the Random values in Column B and copy them to another column for example Column C.
To Copy Select the values then Right Click and Select Copy. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C.
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-bXsu97ap/w:auto/h:auto/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-183.png)
Now Click on Cell C2, then Right Click and Select Paste special-> Paste values only.
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-f0JBuUMm/w:auto/h:auto/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-184.png)
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-0Sz_RxBw/w:auto/h:auto/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-185.png)
Now Click above the C Column header hold it drag it over Column B to replace it.
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-s3D4_Bn9/w:auto/h:auto/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-186.png)
Step 4: Perform Sort by Random values
Select the Cells from A2 to B11 . Now click on the Data menu and Select Sort Range -> Sort Range by Column A (A to Z )
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-gN5e_aHd/w:1024/h:454/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-187.png)
This will sort the values using random numbers from the list starting from smallest to largest.
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-zbMaQPyI/w:auto/h:auto/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-188.png)
Step 5: Choose the Random Sample
Finally, pick the first n rows that will make up your random sample. For instance, select the first 4 raw data values to be included in your sample if you want a random sample of size 4.
![](https://ml6efdvut7qo.i.optimole.com/Sjge_4I-a7sg5zXU/w:auto/h:auto/q:auto/https://addnewskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/image-189.png)
In the above example, our random sample will be the first 4 values: 1,2,3,4
How to Select a Random Sample in Google Sheets(Conclusion)
In the above tutorial, we have shown you a step -by step guide using which you can quickly select a Random Sample in Google Sheets.
We hope this tutorial on How to Select a Random Sample in Google Sheets was helpful.
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