Sampling Methods Flashcards
A population
The people who live within a society
Research population
Is the group of people that you wish to study
Sample
Those who are taking part in your study
Representative means
The extent to which a sample mirrors a researchers target population and reflects its characteristics
Generalisability
The extent to which their findings can be applied to the larger population of which their sample was a part
Random sampling
An example of random sampling would be picking names out of a hat.In random sampling everyone in the population has the same chance of getting chosen
+easy to create and can be created by computer
-can lead to unrepresentative sample
Systematic sampling
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
+relatively easy to create
-can lead to an unrepresentative sample
Stratified sampling
Where the sample reflects the proportions of different groups in the research population.For example if 33% of the RP are female then 33 % of the sample should be female
+provides a representative sample
-can be complicated to create the sample
Snowball sampling
With this method researchers might find a few participants and then ask them to find participants themselves and so on
+useful to use when researching had to access groups
-sample can be unrepresentative
Quota sampling
In this method researchers will be told to ensure the sample fits with certain quotas for example they might be told to find 90 participants with 30 of them being unemployed
+representative sample
-can be difficult to find enough people to fill the quota
Opportunity
Uses people from target population available at the time and willing to take part.It is based on convenience
+quick and easy
-can lead to an unrepresentative sample
