topic 10 research methods

Question 1

what is a target population?

Answer 1

the group of people that the researcher are interested in. from where the researcher will take their sample. usually it is too large to use everyone in the population so a sample is selected

Question 2

what is a sample?

Answer 2

the smaller group taken from a population. the sample refers to the pp’s in the study

Question 3

what is random sampling?

Answer 3

every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected. all names of the target population in a hat, then the first e.g. 20 names pulled out from your sample

Question 4

what are the advantages of random sampling?

Answer 4

• free from researcher bias in terms of who is selected, as each person has an equal chance of being chosen.
  -more likely to produce a representative sample than e.g. volunteer which may recruit similar minded people

Question 5

what are the disadvantages of random sampling?

Answer 5

• does not always produce a representative sample as by chance similar people may be selected at random
• it requires a list of names of all members of a target population to recruit a few pp’s which takes more time than other types of sampling

Question 6

what is opportunity sampling?

Answer 6

people are recruited because of convenience or availability i.e. the ones that are nearest and easiest to obtain - the researcher approaches the participants

Question 7

what are the advantages of opportunity sampling?

Answer 7

this is the easiest method because it is quick and convenient, so it takes less time to find a sample than other methods such as random or stratified

Question 8

what are the disadvantages of opportunity sampling?

Answer 8

this method is inevitably biased - as the researcher is likely to approach those they know or like. the findings may therefore lack population validity

Question 9

what is volunteer sampling?

Answer 9

self-selecting - the participants present themselves to the researcher, in response to an advert on the internet, in a newspaper, on a noticeboard or letter.

Question 10

what are the advantages of volunteer sampling?

Answer 10

this method is time efficient for the researcher, as the pp’s come to them. once the advert is created, the researcher doesn’t have to do more to find pp’s

Question 11

what are the disadvantages of volunteer sampling?

Answer 11

volunteer bias is a problem as requests for volunteers may attract certain types of people - e.g. those who are extraverted, curious, have a higher IQ etc. which limits the representativeness of the sample

Question 12

what is systematic sampling?

Answer 12

when you select using a set pattern/system - every ‘nth’ member of the target population e.g. every 5th student on the register.

Question 13

what are the advantages of systematic sampling?

Answer 13

this is an unbiased method as people are selected via a system rather than the personal preference of the researcher.

Question 14

what are the disadvantages of systematic sampling?

Answer 14

it does not always produce a representative sample- e.g. every 5th person may be similar in some way.

Question 15

what is stratified sampling?

Answer 15

subgroups within the target population are identified (e.g. age groups or gender). pp’s are obtained from each subgroup in proportion to their occurrence in the target population. one the proportions are worked out the pp’s are selected by random sampling.

Question 16

what are the advantages of stratified sampling?

Answer 16

• this method is likely to produce the most representative sample because there is a proportional representation of subgroups.
• there’s little chance of researcher bias in terms of who is selected due to the random selection process.

Question 17

what are the disadvantages of stratified sampling?

Answer 17

appropriate subgroups must be identified, pp’s who are randomly selected from each group, then contacted. this is very time consuming compared to other methods.