Sampling Methods - Research Methods

Question 1

What is the target population?

Answer 1

the group of people that an investigation is concerned with or wishes to study and apply the findings to

Question 2

what is a sample?

Answer 2

a small selection of people from the target population who are directly studied

Question 3

what should a sample do?

Answer 3

represent the nature of the target population

Question 4

what is a sampling method?

Answer 4

how the sample is chosen

Question 5

what is a finite population?

Answer 5

the number of elements of the population is fixed, making it possible to enumerate/count it in totality

Question 6

what is an infinite population?

Answer 6

the number of units in the population are uncountable, making it impossible to observe all the items.

Question 7

what is an existent population?

Answer 7

the population which comprises of objects that exist in reality

Question 8

what is a hypothetical/imaginary population?

Answer 8

the population exists hypothetically

Question 9

what is random sampling?

Answer 9

everyone from the target population has an equal chance of being selected.

Question 10

what is putting the names of everyone from the target population, then pulling out the number required an example of?

Answer 10

random sampling

Question 11

what is opportunity sampling?

Answer 11

sampler selects participants from who is available at the time

Question 12

what is stratified sampling?

Answer 12

the sample is a proportional representation of the target population

Question 13

how is stratified sampling done?

Answer 13

the target population is categorised into subgroups - a random sample is then taken from each of these subgroups so that the size of each subgroup is representative of their size in the target population

Question 14

what is volunteer sampling?

Answer 14

participants volunteer/put themselves forward. often involves advertising the study

Question 15

what are the strengths of random sampling?

Answer 15

should represent the target population and eliminate sampling bias; should have strong external validity

Question 16

what are the weaknesses of random sampling?

Answer 16

difficult to achieve (time, effort, money); not always possible; there is a chance too many people with certain characteristics may be selected or people may refuse to participate, meaning it is not representative

Question 17

what are the strengths of opportunity sampling?

Answer 17

convenient, easy, quick

Question 18

what are the weaknesses of opportunity sampling?

Answer 18

not every member of the target population may be available; certain types of people will be underrepresented in the study and findings will not be generalisable; if the study was replicated at different times/places it may be unreliable; risk of researcher bias

Question 19

what are the strengths of stratified sampling?

Answer 19

useful if a small subgroup of target population may be missed by a random sampling method; the sample is completely representative

Question 20

what are the strengths of stratified sampling?

Answer 20

useful if a small subgroup of target population may be missed by a random sampling method; the sample is completely representative

Question 21

what are the weaknesses of stratified sampling?

Answer 21

difficult to achieve (time, effort, money); people can refuse to take part

Question 22

what are the strengths of volunteer sampling?

Answer 22

most ethical; participants would be motivated; minimal effort from researcher

Question 23

what are the weaknesses of volunteer sampling?

Answer 23

may be less representative - not everyone in the target population will see the advert and respond; volunteers usually have a more willing and eager to please personality or have the time and inclination to participate