Sampling Methods Flashcards
what’s random sampling?
every member of target population has an equal chance of being selected - eg names out of a hat or number generator
what’s stratified sampling?
a proportional representation of the target population - broken down into gender, age etc
what’s opportunity sampling?
the sampler selects participants from whoever is available at the time
what’s volunteer sampling?
participants put themselves forward to be put into the sample
what’s systematic sampling?
every nth member of population is selected
strength of random sampling
unlikely to be biased, all members of target population have an equal chance of being chosen
weakness of random sampling
can take a long time if target population is large
strength of stratified sampling
very representative of the population if done correctly
weakness of stratified sampling
very time consuming and can be difficult
strength of opportunity sampling
convenient, quick, likely to be ethical
weakness of opportunity sampling
usually less representative and biased
strength of volunteer sampling
participants would be very motivated, easy, access to a variety of people you might not usually have access to
weakness of volunteer sampling
participants are most likely to all be similar, more willing and eager to please than wider population
strength of systematic sampling
avoids researcher bias, usually fairly representative
weakness of systematic sampling
not truly unbiased/random unless you select a number using a random method