topic 5: sampling

Question 1

what is a sample? give an e.g

Answer 1

A sample is a relatively small proportion of the people who belong to the target population
e.g researcher might choose 100 teachers and, by studying their behaviour, try to say something about all teachers

Question 2

what type of samples and sampling techniques do posititvists prefer and why?

Answer 2

for positivists, the sampling techniques which give greater access to larger sample sizes would be favoured
This is because this gives a higher likelihood of representativeness, generalisability and therefore establishing social facts

Question 3

what type of sampling techniques do interpretivists prefer and why?

Answer 3

Interpretivist sociologists prefer smaller, non-random sample sizes. For interpretivists, Verstehen, rapport, meanings and experiences are what matter

Question 4

what is target/ research population?

Answer 4

sociologists decide who the people that they want to study are, their target population
If they wanted to find out if children 0-10 are given different toys according to their sex, the target population would be all boys and girls from 0-10

Question 5

what is sampling?

Answer 5

sampling is the selection of a group to study from the target, or survey, population

Question 6

what are six factors to be considered by the researcher when selecting a sample?

Answer 6

1. Identification of the target population
2. Identifying what sampling frames, if only are available
3. Finding how to access the sampling frame and/ or the target population
4. Understanding who is included in the sampling units
5. Deciding what size the sample should be
6. Working out what sampling strategy to use

Question 7

what is a sampling frame? give two e.g

Answer 7

A sampling frame is a list of everyone in a target population. Examples include:
Electoral registers- list of everyone eligible to vote
School registers- list of children attending school

Question 8

What are two reasons to have a sampling frame?

Answer 8

1- If researcher can’t identify everyone in their target population their sample may not be representative
2- To contact people in their sample (e.g interview), the researcher needs to know who they are

Question 9

state and explain two types of sampling techniques?

Answer 9

1) random/ probability sampling- meaning everyone in target population has an equal chance, or probability of being selected
2) Non random sampling- likely to be used by interpretivists to find specific types of individuals or groups than ensuring their target is statistically representative

Question 10

Random sampling techniques: Explain simple random sampling method

Answer 10

A simple random sample would involve numbering everyone in a population, then consulting something like a random number table or a random number generator to select each person

Question 11

Random sampling techniques: Explain systematic sampling

Answer 11

This involves methodically selecting participants based on a fixed interval e.g researcher may choose from 7 every tenth from that number- 7, 17, 27, 37 and so on till the end of sample

Question 12

Random sampling techniques:
Explain stratified sapling

Answer 12

Involves dividing the research population into a number of different categories or “strata” to provide different sampling frames.
The idea is that the sample should proportionally represent the same characteristics in the strata of the target population

Question 13

Advantages of random sampling techniques: No research influence and no bias in selection

Answer 13

The researcher cannot bias the selection of individuals to meet their research aims as every participant has an equal likelihood of being chosen

Question 14

Advantages of random sampling techniques: Reliable

Answer 14

Standardised procedures refer to when all the participants are treated the same way and have the same experiences
This means the exact instructions will be complied, so the identical procedure takes place when research is repeated

Question 15

Advantages of random sampling: Representative

Answer 15

Random sampling techniques are fairly representative, and the larger the sample the more likely it is to be reasonably representative and less likely it is to be biased in favour of any group.
In practice however, this means that some random sampling techniques are more representative than others

Question 16

Disadvantages of random sampling techniques: Not always possible to identify a sampling frame

Answer 16

A sampling frame refers to a list of everyone in a target population
With lots of populations, there’s no guarantee that there is a list.
e.g if sociologists were interested in studying Hijabi women in East London, there would be no definitive list of this population

Question 17

Disadvantages of random sampling techniques: Drop out rates

Answer 17

If there’s a significant drop out rate, this compromises the accuracy of the proportions of the calculated categories, undermining representativeness
People may drop out of a study as people lose commitment, people move away, people’s life situations change, or they lose interest

Question 18

Non-random sampling techniques: Opportunity sampling

Answer 18

Means making the most of situations of opportunities in which the research population is likely to be found
An alternative would be to identify opportunities in which there is more chance of coming into contact with African people

Question 19

Non-random sampling techniques: Quota sampling

Answer 19

It’s similar stratified random sampling
In this case the researcher decides how many of each category of each person should be included in the sample, the researcher goes out looking for the right number of people in each category until the quota is filled, instead of selecting them from a random sampling frame

Question 20

Non-random sampling techniques: Snowball sampling

Answer 20

This is mainly used when researchers experience difficulty in gaining access to a particular group of people whom they want to study because the research population engage in deviant or illegal activities normally carried out in secret
Sampling techniques involve finding/ interviewing a person who fits research, then asking them to suggest someone else who might be willing to be interviewed

Question 21

Non-random sampling techniques: Volunteer sampling

Answer 21

Where individuals hear about social research and choose to contact the sociologist and take part.
Sociologists may advertise for research volunteers in magazines and newspapers

Question 22

Non-random sampling techniques: Purposive sampling

Answer 22

Involves researchers choosing individuals or cases that fit the nature of the research
They are selected based on characteristics of a population and the objective of the study

Question 23

Advantages of non-random sampling: A relevant sample

Answer 23

The sample obtained from non-random sampling tend to be made up of exactly of the kind of people who the researcher has identified in their target population (however it isn’t representative)

Question 24

Advantages of non-random sampling: Practicality

Answer 24

Non-random sampling techniques tend to be practically easy to carry out. It doesn’t require sampling frames, proportions of populations don’t need to be calculated
They require less planning and leads to obtaining of the sample being less time consuming

Question 25

Disadvantages of non-random sampling: Researcher bias

Answer 25

The researcher plays a role in deciding who would get to be in the final sample Researchers may only end up choosing who they think might support their particular theory or argument and ignore those who might not

Question 26

Disadvantages of non-random sampling: Unrepresentative

Answer 26

Non-random sampling techniques could easily result in a sample that is not fully representative of the target population e.g if sociologist was interested in studying women who involve full-time, then a non-random sample may not yield a variety of these women. (e.g may end up with white women and not include other ethnic or social class groups)