Sampling Flashcards
What is opportunity sampling?
When a researcher finds participants who are the most convenient/easily available.
What is a disadvantage of opportunity sampling?
biased sample as it is only from a small part of the target population
What is an advantage of opportunity sampling?
less time-consuming as you just use whoever is the most convenient
What is random sampling?
each person in the target population has an equal chance of being selected, this could be done through pulling names out of a hat or using a random number generator
What is an advantage of random sampling?
unbiased because everyone has equal chance of being selected
What is a disadvantage of random sampling?
may take some time as each member of the target population has to be identified and the selected ones contacted
What is snowball sampling?
current participants recruit more participants from people that they know
What is an advantage of snowball sampling?
enables researchers to access groups that may be difficult to reach, e.g. drug addicts
What is a disadvantage of snowball sampling?
sample is unlikely to be representative of the population
What is volunteer / self selected sampling?
participants respond to an advert on a noticeboard/on the internet/in a newspaper
What is an advantage of volunteer sampling?
gives access to a variety of participants, so the sample is more representative and less biased
What is a disadvantage of volunteer sampling?
can lead to volunteer bias (the participants know they are part of a study and may behave accordingly)
What is stratified sampling?
subgroups within the target population are identified, and then a random sample that is proportionate to the representation of the subgroup within the population is taken
What is an advantage of stratified sampling?
likely to be more representative as there is proportional representation of the subgroups
What is a disadvantage of stratified sampling?
it is time-consuming to identify the subgroups, the people in them, and then contact them
