Sampling Flashcards
What is a target population?
The group of people that the researcher is interested in
What is bias?
A systematic distortion
What is generalisation?
Applying the findings of a particular study to the target population
What is an advantage of opportunity sampling?
The easiest method, takes less time
Disadvantage of opportunity sampling
May be biased, sample is drawn from a small part of the target population
Advantage of random sampling
Unbiased, equal chance of selection
Disadvantage of random sampling
Time consuming, have to list all members of the target population and contact those selected
Advantage of snow ball sampling
Enables researcher to locate groups who are difficult to access, eg drug addicts
Disadvantage of snowball sample
Not likely to be good cross section from the population because it is friends of friends
Advantage of self selected sampling
Gives access to variety of participants, more representative and less biased
Disadvantage of self selected sampling
Biased, participants will be highly motivated to be helpful, volunteer bias
What is stratified/ quota sampling
Subgroups within a target population are identified according to their frequency in the target population
What is an advantage of stratified/ quota sampling?
Likely to be more representative, there is a proportional representation of subgroups
What is a disadvantage of stratified and quota sampling
Time consuming to identify sub groups and select participants
What is systematic sampling?
Selecting participants based on every nth term
