Sampling Methods Flashcards
What’s purposive sampling?
A way of seeking out a certain number of people who fulfill a requirement for the study. the researcher will actively recruit people into the required category.
Whats snowball sampling?
It begins with a small sample and then the researcher asks each participant to recommend others to take part. this does not provide a statistically representative sample but may be useful when recruiting a sample which is difficult to identify without specialist knowledge.
Whats Random Sampling?
Its a way of picking participants from the whole population by using a randomising technique like picking names out of a hat.
Whats Quota sampling?
Makes certain that the main characteristics of the population are included in the sample in the right proportions.
Whats opportunity sampling?
Uses an easily accessible sample of people. Although the sample is not representative of the whole population, it may be a useful method for a pilot study or for student research.
What does a sample have to be in order to generalise a sociologists findings?
Representative
What’s a survey population?
The whole group that you want to study
What is a sample?
A group selected from the target population to take part in a study
What is a sampling frame?
A list of individuals sampling units from which a sample is drawn eg the electoral role
What are 5 factors of a good sampling frame?
- Complete , covering all the population concerned. 2 Without duplicates. 3. Accurate 4. Upto date 5. All in one place
How did Young and Wilmott conduct their study on the decline of the extended family?
They used a sampling frame of the electoral register. They had to make sure it was complete and up to date or their research wouldn’t have been representative of their target population
What’s stratified random sampling?
The division of a population into smaller groups based on specific characteristics.
What are 2 strengths of random sampling?
It reduced bias from the researcher and if the sample is large it can be representative.
What is a weakness of random sampling?
It might not be fully representative
What is a strength of stratified sampling?
It is representative and allows for general results from small samples.
What is a weakness of stratified sampling?
There’s alot of information needed about the population to split them into smaller groups.
What are 2 strengths of Quota sampling?
- It is easier to find people because you know what your looking for. 2. The participants volunteer.
What’s a limitation of quota sampling?
It is limited by the bias of the researcher.
What is a strength of purposive sampling?
enables researchers to explore the depth and breadth of a phenomenon by selecting participants or cases with different experiences, perspectives, or insights
What’s a weakness of purposive sampling?
the sample size may not be large enough to generalize the findings to the entire population.
What’s the difference between purposive and quota sampling?
Purposive sampling would seek out people that have each of those attributes. Quota sampling takes purposive sampling one step further by identifying categories that are important to the study and for which there is likely to be some variation.
What’s 2 strengths of snowball sampling?
- It allows for access to difficult to access groups such as gangs. 2. McMamanara was able to use this when researching male prostitutes.
What are 2 weakness of snowball sampling?
- It’s hard to generalise. 2. It’s hard to repeat with other researchers so lacks validity
What is a strength of opportunity sampling?
It’s practical and fast.
Whats a weakness of opportunity sampling?
It may not be representative
What is opportunity sampling?
where a researcher selects participants based on their availability. O
