MT1- Sampling

Question 1

population

Answer 1

all the members of the group the researcher is interested in researching

Question 2

sample

Answer 2

small sub-group chosen from the population to take part in the study.
used to make sure that those who take part in the research are representative or typical of the whole population-allows the researcher to make generalisations that apply to the whole population.

Question 3

sampling frame

Answer 3

is a list of the population the researcher is interested in studying from which the sample is chosen.

Question 4

sampling methods

Answer 4

different techniques used to select the sample from the sampling frame.

Question 5

random sampling- creates unrepresentative sample

Answer 5

• simplest technique
• involves selecting the sample purely by random chance, e.g. drawing names out of a hat and everyone has an equal chance of being selected.

Question 6

quasi-random/ systematic sampling- creates unrepresentative sample

Answer 6

involves selecting every n-th person from the sampling frame, e.g. 10th person on the sampling frame.

Question 7

snowball sampling- creates unrepresentative sample

Answer 7

researcher contacts one individual who agrees to take part in the study.
This individual then suggests other possible participants to the researcher.
This is a useful sampling method for researching people such as criminals who may not otherwise be easy to contact or persuade to take part.

Question 8

opportunity sampling- creates unrepresentative sample

Answer 8

involves choosing from those who are easy to access, e.g. passers-by in the street.

Question 9

why use a sample that isn’t representative?

Answer 9

• Interpretivists are more concerned with gaining verstehen than with making generalisations so they don’t mind.
• The researcher may not know the social characteristics of the population, e.g. their age or ethnicity so it is impossible to create a sample that is an exact cross-section of the population.
• may be impossible to create or access the sampling frame for some groups in society such as criminals as not all criminals are known to the police.

Question 10

stratified random sampling- representative sample

Answer 10

-includes dividing the population into lists, e.g. males and females, e/m and white, etc. and then taking a proportional number from each list.

Question 11

quota sampling- representative sample

Answer 11

the researchers look for the right number of each sort of person required in each category, e.g. 10 Indian men aged 20-25, 10 Indian women aged 20-25.