Sampling

Question 1

what is sampling?

Answer 1

for practical and economic reasons, including all members of a target population is not always available so the researcher selects smaller groups of people known as a sample. the sample that is drawn should be a representative of the target audience so that generalisation of the findings can become possible

Question 2

population

Answer 2

refers to the large group of individuals that a particular researcher may be interested in studying, eg. students attending sixth form

Question 3

target population

Answer 3

refers to a particular subset of the overall population from which the sample will be taken, eg. students attending sixth form in newcastle

Question 4

sample

Answer 4

refers to a group of people who take part in research investigation. it is draw from the target population and presumed to be the representative of that population

Question 5

representation

Answer 5

contains the same characteristics as the target population from which the sample was taken

Question 6

generalisation

Answer 6

the extent to which findings and conclusions can be broadly applied to the population

Question 7

random sampling

Answer 7

each member of a population has an equal chance of being selected. a full list of all the members of the target audience is given a number. the sample if generated by using a lottery method (number generator or picking name out of hat)

Question 8

systematic sampling

Answer 8

when every nth member of the target population is selected from a sampling frame.
A sampling frame list is created, this is a list of all the people in the target population organised in an order - perhaps alphabetically. a sampling system is chosen based on the number of people required in the sample and the total amount of people in the target audience.

Question 9

stratified sampling

Answer 9

the composition of the sample reflects the proportion of people in certain sub-group (strata) with the target population.
the researcher must identify the different sub-groups within the target population. eg. age or gender. the proportions needed for the sample to be representative are worked out. then they work out how many participants are needed from each sub group to make the sample. these participants are picked out randomly.

Question 10

opportunity

Answer 10

selecting anyone who happens to be willing or available to take part. the researcher simply takes the chance to ask whoever is around at the time of their study

Question 11

volunteer

Answer 11

an advert is produced and individuals self-select themselves to take part. it is also referred to as self-selection

Question 12

strengths and limitations of random sampling

Answer 12

+ free from research bias

• time consuming to conduct
• difficult to get a list of everyone
• sample could be unrepresentative by chance
• participants might refuse to take part

Question 13

strengths and limitations of systematic sampling

Answer 13

+ free from research bias
+ usually fairly representative

• time consuming to conduct
• difficult to get a list of everyone
• participants might refuse to take part

Question 14

strengths and weaknesses of stratified sampling

Answer 14

+ free from researcher bias
+ produces the most representative sample

• complete red presentation of sample is not possible
• time consuming to conduct
• participants might refuse to take part

Question 15

strengths and limitations of opportunity sampling

Answer 15

+ saves time
+ saves money

• unrepresentative sample - only people who are around at the time
• unrepresentative sample - only some people will say less
• researcher bias occurs

Question 16

strengths and weaknesses of volunteer sampling

Answer 16

+ easy
+ less time consuming

• volunteer bias occurs unrepresentative sample