Sampling

Question 1

What does population mean?

Answer 1

Refers to the large group of individuals that a researcher is interested in studying

Question 2

What is the target population?

Answer 2

A subset of the general population

Question 3

What is the sample?

Answer 3

The smaller group of people drawn from the population

Question 4

What is a random sample?

Answer 4

All members of the target population have an equal chance of being selected

Question 5

What is a a systematic sample?

Answer 5

Every nth person of the target population is selected

Question 6

What is a sampling frame?

Answer 6

A list of people in the target population

Question 7

What is stratified sampling?

Answer 7

The sample reflects the proportions of people in certain subgroups within the target population

Question 8

What is an opportunity sample?

Answer 8

Researchers ask whoever is willing/available to be part of their sample

Question 9

What is a volunteer sample?

Answer 9

Participants select themselves to be part of the sample

Question 10

Strengths of random sampling?

Answer 10

Unbiased

Question 11

Weaknesses of random sampling?

Answer 11

Difficult and time-consuming to conduct
A complete list of the target population may be difficult to obtain
May end up with a sample that is still unrepresentative

Question 12

Strengths of systematic sampling?

Answer 12

Objective- the researcher has no influence over who is chosen

Question 13

Weaknesses of systematic sampling?

Answer 13

Time-consuming
Participants may refuse to take part- resulting in a volunteer sample

Question 14

Strengths of stratified sampling?

Answer 14

Produces a representative sample

Question 15

Weaknesses of stratified sampling?

Answer 15

Stratification is not perfect- identified strata cannot reflect all the ways that people are different
Complete representation of the target population is not possible

Question 16

Strengths of opportunity sampling?

Answer 16

Convenient
Much less costly in time and money- a list of members of the target population is not required (random sampling) and there is no need to divide the population into different strata (stratified sampling)

Question 17

Weaknesses of opportunity sampling?

Answer 17

Suffers from 2 forms of bias
Sample is unrepresentative of the target population- it is drawn from a very specific area so findings can’t be generalised to the target population
The researcher has control over the selection of participants and may avoid people they do not like the look of

Question 18

Strengths of volunteer sampling?

Answer 18

Easy to collect
Requires minimal input from the researcher
Less time-consuming
The researcher ends up with participants who are more engaged

Question 19

Limitations of volunteer sampling?

Answer 19

Volunteer bias is a problem
Asking for volunteers may attract a certain profile of person- someone who is more likely to try and please the researcher- may affect how far findings can be generalised