Sample Techniques Flashcards
Target population
who the results can be generalised to (a group of people researchers want to describe and understand)
Sampling frame
who researchers have access to
Sample
who actually participate in the study
Generalisation
“the extent to which findings of an empirical investigation hold of a variation of populations and settings”
Representative
“a subset of a population that seeks to accurately reflect the characteristics of the larger group.”
‘external validity’
The extent to which a study can be generalised to a target population is called
Random sampling
every member of the target population has an equal chance of becoming part of the sample.
Opportunity (convenience) sampling
recruiting participants that are more easily available, pre-existing sample
Self-selected (volunteer) sampling
recruiting volunteers e.g. advertising experiment on Facebook and using the participants who respond
Snowball sampling
existing participants recommend additional potential participants, who themselves are observed and asked to nominate others, and so on until a sufficient number of participants is obtained
Stratified sampling
the researcher divides or ‘stratifies’ the target group into sections, each representing a key group (or characteristics) that should be present in the final sample
Purposive sampling
looking for people with a very specific set of traits e.g. expatriates who lived in Prague for over 25 years
What are the key strengths and limitations of each of these techniques?
Representativeness
Generalisability
Degree of bias
Ease of recruiting participants
Type/quality of participants
Other participant issues/considerations
Complexity of sampling techniques
Accuracy of results
What is one strength and one limitation of random?
Strength: Generalisability
Limitation: Other participant issues/considerations
What is one strength and one limitation of opportunity (convenience)?
Strength: Ease of recruiting participants
Limitation: Degree of bias - all the people come from the same place
What is one strength and one limitation of self-selected (volunteer)?
Strength: Ease of recruiting participants
Limitation: Type/quality of participants
Use a specific platform the advert is on
What is one strength and one limitation of snowball?
Strength: Helpful in finding participants with niche characteristics
Limitation: Hard to recruit participants
What is one strength and one limitation stratified?
Strength: Representative of many characteristics
Limitation: Complexity of sampling techniques
What is one strength and one limitation of purposive?
Strength: Representative of niche characteristics
Limitation: Hard to recruit participants
