sampling

Question 1

Volunteer sample

Answer 1

where participants pick themselves through newspaper adverts, noticeboards or online.

Question 2

opportunity

Answer 2

uses people who are available at the time the study is carried out and willing to take part. It is based on convenience.

Question 3

random

Answer 3

when every person in the target population has an equal chance of being selected. An example of random sampling would be picking names out of a hat.

Question 4

systematic

Answer 4

when a system is used to select participants. Picking every Nth person from all possible participants. N = the number of people in the research population / the number of people needed for the sample.

Question 5

stratified

Answer 5

when you identify the subgroups and select participants in proportion to their occurrences.

Question 6

snowball

Answer 6

when researchers find a few participants, and then ask them to find participants themselves and so on.

Question 7

quota

Answer 7

when researchers will be told to ensure the sample fits certain quotas, for example they might be told to find 90 participants, with 30 of them being unemployed.