sampling

Question 1

random sampling

Answer 1

each member of the target population as an equal chance of being selected
you need a list of all the members of the target population
names placed into a name generator to generate random lists

Question 2

opportunity sampling

Answer 2

involves using participants who are available and willing to take part
e.g asking people in the street who are passing

Question 3

volunteer sampling

Answer 3

participants select themselves to take part
e.g advert in a newspaper

Question 4

systematic sampling

Answer 4

where everything nth member of the target population is selected from a list

Question 5

stratified sampling

Answer 5

identify the different sub groups
proportions needed for the sample to be representative is worked out
participants that make up each sub group are selected using random sampling techniques

Question 6

target population

Answer 6

the entire population

Question 7

representative = high…

Answer 7

external validity

Question 8

to generalise results to the target population the sample must be…

Answer 8

representative

Question 9

the 5 sampling techniques

Answer 9

random
opportunity
volunteer
systematic
stratified

Question 10

random sampling strength

Answer 10

unbiased selection
the researcher has no influence over who is selected so can’t choose people who will support their hypothesis
this ENHANCES INTERNAL VALIDITY

Question 11

random sampling weaknesses

Answer 11

impractical
its difficult and time-consuming to get a complete list of the target population. some selected participants may refuse to take part

may not be representative by chance
its still possible for the random sample to select similar people

Question 12

opportunity strength

Answer 12

quick and easy
its convenient and saves time, effort and less costly

Question 13

opportunity weakness

Answer 13

unrepresentative/ lacks generalisation
its drawn from a specific area so findings cannot be generalised

Question 14

volunteer strengths

Answer 14

easy
requires minimal effort and input from the researcher so its less time-consuming

Question 15

volunteer weakness

Answer 15

volunteer bias
asking for volunteers may attract a certain ‘profile’ of people like helpful, keen, curious. this affects how far findings can be generalised

demand characteristic
curious people

Question 16

systematic strength

Answer 16

unbiased selection
once the system for selection has been established the researcher has no influence over who is chosen. this is an objective method

Question 17

systematic weakness

Answer 17

its only possible if you can identify all the members of the target population and they’re willing to take part
this takes time and effort to make a complete list of the population

Question 18

stratified strength

Answer 18

unbiased/ representative
once the target population has been sub-divided into the Strata the participants that make up the numbers are randomly selected and beyond the influence of the researcher
= generalisation of findings is possible

Question 19

stratified weakness

Answer 19

stratification is not perfect
the identified strata cannot reflect all the way that people are different
so complete representation of the target population is not possible