This formula is a derivative of the sampling formula to estimate population proportion, not population mean. It assumes a P value of 0.5 and a confidence level of 95.44 percent. Is it because it always results to a size higher that that of the sampling formula that estimates population mean?
The sampling formula that estimates population mean is a demanding one- it requires a parameter (variance or standard deviation) which is not usually available and requires a knowledge about the population which in the first place the researcher has no data of (that is why s/he is studying such population). Slovin's formula needs only the value of the population size, so it seems. The fact is, its derivation assumed a proportion (P) value of 0.5 and a Z value of 2 (95.44 percent confidence level, 2-tailed)
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