Table of Random Numbers; Uses

Use of the Random Number Table - A random number table is often used for subject assignment and sample selection. While subjects can be selected or assigned by drawing their name out of a hat, a more elegant method is to use a random number table. The steps below illustrate the use of a random number table.
To use the table:

1. List subjects in any convenient order, i.e., alphabetical
2. Close your eyes and point to any row of the table.
3. Close your eyes and point to any column.
4. Begin at the intersection of the row and column you picked. Assign the random numbers that appear in the column to your subjects, e.g., the first number is given to the first subject on the list.
5. When you get to the end of the column of numbers begin over with the next column.
6. Now order your subjects by their assigned random numbers.
7. You now have a list of randomly ordered subjects, you can assign them to groups by just taking the first k subjects for group 1, the next k subjects for group 2, and so on until all are assigned.

Table of Random Numbers

ROW	COLUMN
	1	2	3	4
1	10480	91646	16308	51259
2	22368	89198	19885	60268
3	24130	64809	04146	64904
4	42167	16376	14413	58586
5	37570	91782	06691	09998
6	88321	53498	30168	29119
7	48235	31016	25306	63553
8	52636	20922	38005	09429
9	87529	18103	00256	42751
10	71048	59533	92420	19734