Week 6 Flashcards
What is the main idea behind sampling?
Representativeness
Gap between what is stated in the theory and what occurs in reality
Ideal-reality gap
The process of selecting a subset of cases in order to draw conclusions about the entire set
Sampling
The population to which researchers would like to generalize their results
Target population/define study population/population of interest
The entity about whom or which the researcher gathers information. What are the different types?
Unit of analysis
individuals, groups, social artifacts
For the following descriptions, name the unit of analysis:
A - Anything that is not a human being
B - Cancer patients
C - Women with breast cancer
A - social artifact
B - group
C - individual
Why do we want the unit of analysis to be clear?
We do not want to make false generalizations from one unit of analysis to another
Operational definition of the population that provides the basis for drawing a sample; i.e. a list of cases from which a sample may be selected
Sampling frame/accessible population
More concrete than the target population. Turns a target population into a tangible list
Sampling frame
What are the two reasons that we do not study every single person in a population?
Time and money
What is the only situation in which a researcher will take into account every single person?
Census data
A mismatch between the target population and sampling frame
Coverage error
What are the types of coverage errors?
Undercoverage - omission
Overcoverage
- duplication
- Wrongful inclusoin
What are the causes of coverage error?
Incomprehensiveness
Technical problem
Attrition
Which coverage error is more common?
Undercoverage > overcoverage
Quitting the study prematurely; more prevalent in longitudinal studies
Attrition
The deviation of the selected sample from the true characteristics, traits, behaviours, qualities or figures of the entire population
Sampling error
Characteristics of the population
Parameters
Estimates of population parameters
Statistics
Difference between sample statistics and population parameters
Sampling error
Sampling error is only applicable to _______ research
quantitative
If the statistic avg is 3.75, and the parameter avg is 3.72, what is the sampling error?
0.03
By reducing our sampling error, we increase the ______ of the study
validity
Information from the sample is linked to the population via the ______ _______
sampling distribution
Sampling distribution:
- __________ concept
- _______–> _______–> _________
Aka as the _____ _____
theoretical
sample –> sampling distribution –> population
Aka the bell curve