Populations and Sampling Flashcards
What is the target population?
The total group of individuals from which the sample might be drawn.
What is the sample?
A smaller group of people who take part in research who are presumed to be fair and representative of the target population
What is sample bias?
Where certain groups may be over or under represented within the selected sample which limits the ability to generalise to people outside of the sample.
What is a representative sample?
A group that closely matches the characteristics of the population as a whole
What is the random sampling technique - + strengths and limitations
Uses a random name genders for and each ppt is given a number and are selected until the desired number is reached.
+ free from researcher bias
- time consuming and difficult
- could still be unrepresentative
What is the systematic sampling technique- + strengths and limitations
Participants are put in a random order and every nth person is selected until the desired number is reached.
+ free from researcher bias
- could still be unrepresentative
What is the stratified sampling technique- + strength and limitations
Involves putting the population into categories and selecting a sample that consists of ppts from each category.
+ free from researcher bias
- can’t reflect all of the ways that people are different
What is opportunity sampling - + strengths and limitations
The researcher selects anyone who happens to be available and willing at the time
+ convenient
- could be unrepresentative
- researcher has complete selection and may avoid people
What is volunteer sampling - + strengths and limitations
Asking participants who would like to take part - could be online, in the newspapers etc
+ easy to do
- could be a bias sample
