Sampling Flashcards
(26 cards)
Target population
The large group of people the researcher wants to study
Sample
The small group of people who represent the target population and are studied
Representative
When the sample of participants is made up of people who have the same characteristics and abilities as the target population
Generalise
Refers to the extent to which we can apply the findings of our research to the target population we are interested in
Population validity
The extent to which the sample can be generalised to a wider population
Description of opportunity sampling
Using people who are available and want to participate
Strength of opportunity sampling
Quicker and easier than stratified
Limitations of opportunity sampling
Researcher bias
Unrepresentative, hard to generalise to the target population
Description of self-selected sampling
People volunteer to participate
Strengths of self-selected sampling
Not as time consuming as stratified
Can reach a lot of people
Weaknesses of self-selected sampling
Lacks generalisability
Demand characteristics
“Screw you effect” & “Please you effect”
Description of random sampling
Every member of the target population has to be available to the researcher, equal chance
Strengths of random sampling
No researcher bias
Everyone has equal chance
Weakness of random sampling
May not be representative of the target population
Time consuming
Description of systematic sampling
Every nth number on a list of the target population
e.g. Every 7th person
Strengths of systematic sampling
Quicker and easier than stratified
Unbiased
Weakness of systematic sampling
May not be representative of target population
Description of stratified sampling
Participants are put into subgroups in proportion to their frequency in the target population
Strengths of stratified sampling
Representative of the target population
Unbiased
Weakness of stratified sampling
Time consuming
Description of snowball sampling
Current participants recruit further participants from people that they know who would be suitable for the study
Strength of snowball sampling
Enables the researcher to locate groups that may be difficult to access
Weakness of snowball sampling
Not representative of target population
Description of quota sampling
Same process as stratified sampling but the researcher chooses (by opportunity sampling) who becomes part of the sample for each subgroup
