Sampling

Question 1

Target population

Answer 1

the group of individuals a researcher is interested in e.g young people in the UK

Question 2

Sampling Frame

Answer 2

if the researcher cannot study all the people within the target population they identify a smaller group e.g young people in 2 colleges in Swansea.

Question 3

Sample

Answer 3

Group of participants used in the research which

Question 4

Random sampling

Answer 4

Method for selecting participants where everybody in the target population has an equal chance of being selected. E.g all the names of target population are placed into a hat and the required sample is drawn from the hat.

Question 5

Opportunity Sampling

Answer 5

Method for selecting participants whereby anyone who is available and willing at the time the study is conducted will be used as a participant. E.g asking people waiting in line fo the cash point machine to fill in a survey on the state of the British banking industry.

Question 6

Volunteer Sampling

Answer 6

Method for selecting participants whereby the researcher places an advertisement asking for participants. The participants contact the researcher if they are happy to take part. E.g responding to a newspaper advert.

Question 7

Systematic Sampling

Answer 7

Method of selecting participants whereby the researcher must make an alphabetical list of all the people within the target population and select every nth person from that list.

Question 8

Stratified Sampling

Answer 8

Method for selecting participants whereby the researcher needs to identify the sub-cultures that exist within the target population e.g age groups and religious groups then select proportionately from each sub-culture using random sampling.

Question 9

Quota sampling

Answer 9

Method for selecting participants whereby the researcher needs to identify the sub-cultures that exist within the target population e.g different age groups and religious groups and then select proportionately from each sub-culture using opportunity sampling.

Question 10

Snowball Sampling

Answer 10

Method for selecting participants whereby the researcher needs to identify and contact one individual from the target population by opportunity sampling. This participant then recruits other participants and they in turn recruit additional participants and so on. Method generally used for hard to reach groups.

Question 11

Representative

Answer 11

A sample will be considered representative when the participants represent the target population e.g 30% of the TP are male then sample should be 30% male. Strength as it means findings contain population validity and can be generalised to TP.

Question 12

Unrepresentative

Answer 12

Sample is unrepresentative when the participants do not represent the target population. E.g if psychology is studied by both males and females the sample should not contain only female students. This is a weakness as it means findings lack population validity and findings cannot be generalised from sample to target population.

Question 13

Unbiased

Answer 13

A sample is unbiased when the researcher has no control over who is selected and which condition they are placed in. This is a strength because it means the findings will have improved internal validity and therefore the study should be accurately measuring the behaviour under investigation.

Question 14

Biased

Answer 14

A sample is biased when the researcher is in control over who is selected and selects participants to support their hypothesis. This is a weakness because it means the findings will lack internal validity and therefore study will not be accurately measuring the behaviour under investigation.

Question 15

Less Time Consuming

Answer 15

A sampling method will be less time consuming when the researcher does not need personal details to contact the sample or they are not concerned with reflecting individual differences within the sample. This is a strength because it means less time will need to be dedicated to the planning of the research which will help to reduce the funding costs of the study.

Question 16

Time Consuming

Answer 16

A sampling method will be time consuming when either their personal details are difficult to identify (e.g mental health patients) or individual differences need to be fully reflected. This is a weakness because it means more time will need to be dedicated to the planning of the research which will directly increase the funding costs of the study.