Sampling Methofd Flashcards
Research population
The group of people the researcher wants to study.
They CANNOT study everyone so they have to select a sample.
Sample
A small group of people who represents the target population and who are studied
The sample must be:
REPRESENTATIVE of the target population
Sampling frame
The list of all members of the research population.
E.G a school list of all the names of the pupils/ staff, electoral roll
Benefits of having a representative sample
You can generalise the result of your study to the wider population
Probability sampling
The selection of a sample from a population
Each person in the sampling frame has an equal chance of being selected
Done when a sample frame IS available
EXAMPLES of probability sampling
Random sampling
Systematic sampling
Stratified sampling
Non- probability sampling
The method which not all members of the population have an equal chance of participating in the study
Done when a sampling frame is NOT available
Random sampling
Every member of the target population has an equal chance of being chosen
How to do RANDOM SAMPLING
- you need a sampling frame
- all the names on the list are assigned a number
- Sample is selected randomly - computer-based randomiser/ names out of a hat
Systematic sampling
When a researcher selects every nth person on the sampling frame to be a part of the sample
How to carry out SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING
- Obtain a sampling frame
- Nth number is selected by dividing the target population size by the desired sample size
- Most representative samples from this method are achieved when the sampling frame list is randomised.
Stratified sampling
The sampling frame is divided into various social groups (e.g age, gender, ethnicity etc) .
Then random sampling is used for each group to ensure the FINAL SAMPLE reflects the population in terms of representativeness
How to do STRATIFIED SAMPLING
- obtain a sampling frame
- Divide the sampling frame into social groups
- Randomly select the number of participants from each strata (group) to make it representative of the larger group
Probability sampling ADVANTAGES
No bias - more objective.
Every person in the target population has an equal chance of being selected
MORE LIKELY to be representative