Chapter 7: Estimating the frequency of behaviors and beliefs

Question 1

population

Answer 1

the entire set of people a researcher is interested in

Question 2

census

Answer 2

a set of observations that includes all members of the population of interest

Question 3

biased (unrepresentative) sample

Answer 3

some members of the population of interest have a much higher probability than other members of being included in the sample

Question 4

unbiased (representative) sample

Answer 4

all members of the population have an equal and known chance of being included in the sample

Question 5

ways a sample could be biased

Answer 5

• researchers might only study those who they can contact conveniently
• researchers might only study those who volunteer to respond

Question 6

convenience sampling

Answer 6

a biased sampling technique in which researchers choose a sample based on those who are easiest to access and are readily available

Question 7

self-selection

Answer 7

a from of sampling bias that occurs when a sample contains only participants who volunteer to participate

Question 8

probability (random) sampling

Answer 8

every member of the population of interest has an equal and known chance of being selected for the sample

Question 9

simple random sampling

Answer 9

the most basic form of probability sampling in which the sample is chosen completely randomly from the population of interest

Question 10

systematic sampling

Answer 10

a probability sampling technique in which the researcher uses a randomly chosen number N and counts for every Nth member of a population to achieve a sample

Question 11

cluster sampling

Answer 11

a probability sampling technique in which clusters of participants within the population of interest are selected at random, followed by data collection from all individuals in each cluster

Question 12

multistage sample

Answer 12

a probability sampling technique involving at least 2 stages: a random sample of clusters, followed by a random sample of people within the selected clusters

Question 13

stratified random sampling

Answer 13

a form of probability sampling in which the researcher identifies particular demographic categories or strata, and then randomly selects individuals within each category, proportionate to their assumed membership in the population

Question 14

oversampling

Answer 14

a form of probability sampling, a variation of stratified random sampling in which the researcher intentionally overrepresents one or more groups

Question 15

random assignment

Answer 15

researchers randomly assign participants to different experimental groups

Question 16

purposive sampling

Answer 16

a biased sampling technique in which only certain kinds of people are included in the sample

Question 17

snowball sampling

Answer 17

a variation of purposive sampling in which participants are asked to recommend acquaintances to participate in a study

Question 18

quota sampling

Answer 18

a biased sampling technique in which a researcher identifies subsets of the population of interest, sets a target number for each category in the sample, and nonrandomly selects individuals within each category until the quotas are full