Discuss the importance of sampling when carrying out educational research

Introduction

Sampling is the act, process, or technique of selecting a suitable sample, or a representative

part of a population for the purpose of determining parameters or characteristics of the whole
population. A sample is a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied
to gain information about the whole (Webster, 2010). When dealing with people, it can be
defined as a set of respondents (people) selected from a larger population for the purpose of a
survey. Researchers use two major sampling techniques: probability sampling and non
probability sampling. With probability sampling, a researcher can specify the probability of
an element’s (participant’s) being included in the sample. With non probability sampling,
there is no way of estimating the probability of an element’s being included in a sample. If
the researcher’s interest is in generalizing the findings derived from the sample to the general
population, then probability sampling is far more useful and precise. Unfortunately, it is also
much more difficult and expensive than non probability sampling.

Definition of key terms

Sampling

Sampling is the act, process, or technique of selecting a suitable sample, or a representative

part of a population for the purpose of determining parameters or characteristics of the whole
population. A sample is a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied
to gain information about the whole (Webster, 2010). When dealing with people, it can be
defined as a set of respondents (people) selected from a larger population for the purpose of a
survey.

Research

According Webster (2010), to research is to search or investigate exhaustively. It is a careful

or diligent search, studious inquiry or examination especially investigation or
experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted
theories or laws in the light of new facts or practical application of such new or revised
theories or laws, it can also be the collection of information about a particular subject.

Reasons for sampling

First of all, the general population can be very large. For instance, in Serbia, there are over
600.000 primary school students. Of course, we rarely want to include students of all grades
from the age of six to fifteen in the research. Only an eighth-grade student population is too
large for empirical research. Also, we can say that the population of children's newspaper
readers, all the graduates of one school year, and so on, is also too large. When the population
is too large for basic research, we choose only a smaller part of it a sample.

Geographically dispersed

General populations are often geographically dispersed. Patton (2014), the number of the
population is not too great an obstacle for empirical research, but geographical complexity is.
In a survey by mail, the research could include all the directors. At times if researchers
wantes to interview directors directly, then they would have to travel all over the country to
some places because of only one director. When the main population is geographically
dispersed too, we choose to study only a smaller geographic area. (Lapin, 2011). Thirdly, the
overall population in educational research often occurs in successive generations. The
population of students which covers several generations of graduates from a single
department at the time could be of great importance for pedagogy research. If we want to
include the entire study population, we need to repeat much of the research process each year
of the program. Only after the last generation do we have a data base for the entire population
and only then can we process the collected data and conclude the study. When the main
population comprises several generations, we usually choose to explore a generation For
various reasons, educational research cannot cover the entire base set of studied cases, only
part of the basic set and a researcher on the basis of the findings obtained by examining the
sample tends to draw a conclusion about the basic population.

Economic advantage

The economic advantage of using a sample in research obviously, taking a sample requires
fewer resources than a census. A sample may provide you with needed information quickly.
For example, you are a Doctor and a disease has broken out in a village within your area of
jurisdiction, the disease is contagious and it is killing within hours nobody knows what it is.
You are required to conduct quick tests to help save the situation. If you try a census of those
affected, they may be long dead when you arrive with your results. In such a case just a few
of those already infected could be used to provide the required information. The economic
advantage of using a sample in research Obviously, taking a sample requires fewer resources
than a census. For example, let us assume that you are one of the very curious students
around. You have heard so much about the famous Cornell and now that you are there, you
want to hear from the insiders. You want to know what all the students at Cornell think about
the quality of teaching they receive, you know that all the students are different so they are
likely to have different perceptions and you believe you must get all these perceptions so you
decide because you want an in depth view of every student, you will conduct personal
interviews with each one of them and you want the results in 20 days only, let us assume this
particular time you are doing your research Cornell has only 20,000 students and those who
are helping are so fast at the interviewing art that together you can interview at least 10
students per person per day in addition to your 18 credit hours of course work.

Accessibility

There are some populations that are so difficult to get access to that only a sample can be
used. Like people in prison, like crashed aeroplanes in the deep seas, presidents. The
destructive nature of the observation Sometimes the very act of observing the desired
characteristic of a unit of the population destroys it for the intended use. Good examples of
this occur in quality control. For example to test the quality of a fuse, to determine whether it
is defective, it must be destroyed. To obtain a census of the quality of a lorry load of fuses,
you have to destroy all of them. This is contrary to the purpose served by quality-control
testing. In this case, only a sample should be used to assess the quality of the fuses

Accuracy and sampling

A sample may be more accurate than a census. A sloppily conducted census can provide less
reliable information than a carefully obtained sample.

The very large populations

Many populations about which inferences must be made are quite large. For example,
consider the population of high school seniors in United States of America, a group
numbering 4,000,000. The responsible agency in the government has to plan for how they
will be absorbed into the different departments and even the private sector. The employers
would like to have specific knowledge about the student`s plans in order to make compatible
plans to absorb them during the coming year. But the big size of the population makes it
physically impossible to conduct a census. In such a case, selecting a representative sample
may be the only way to get the information required from high school seniors.

However, on the other hand sampling can be of limited use:

Non sampling error (measurement error)

The other main cause of unrepresentative samples is non sampling error. This type of error
can occur whether a census or a sample is being used. Like sampling error, non sampling
error may either be produced by participants in the statistical study or be an innocent by
product of the sampling plans and procedures. A non sampling error is an error that results
solely from the manner in which the observations are made. The simplest example of non
sampling error is inaccurate measurements due to malfunctioning instruments or poor
procedures. For example, consider the observation of human weights. If persons are asked to
state their own weights themselves, no two answers will be of equal reliability. The people
will have weighed themselves on different scales in various states of poor calibration. An
individual`s weight fluctuates diurnally by several pounds, so that the time of weighing will
affect the answer. The scale reading will also vary with the person`s state of undress.
Responses therefore will not be of comparable validity unless all persons are weighed under
the same circumstances. (Salant, 2009)
The interviews’ effect
No two interviewers are alike and the same person may provide different answers to different
Interviewers. The manner in which a question is formulated can also result in inaccurate
responses. Individuals tend to provide false answers to particular questions. For example,
some people want to feel younger or older for some reason known to them. If you ask such a
person their age in years, it is easier for the individual just to lie to you by over stating their
age by one or more years than it is if you asked which year they were born since it will
require a bit of quick arithmetic to give a false date and a date of birth will definitely be more
accurate.
The respondent effect
Respondents might also give incorrect answers to impress the interviewer. This type of error
is the most difficult to prevent because it results from out right deceit on the part of the
responder. An example of this is what I witnessed in my recent study in which I was asking
farmers how much maize they harvested last year (2010). In most cases, the men tended to lie
by saying a figure which is the recommended expected yield that is 25 bags per acre. The
responses from men looked so uniform that I became suspicious. I compared with the
responses of the wives of these men and their responses were all different. To decide which
one was right, whenever possible I could in a tactful way verify with an older son or
daughter. It is important to acknowledge that certain psychological factors induce incorrect
responses and great care must be taken to design a study that minimizes their effect.

Knowing the study purpose

Knowing why a study is being conducted may create incorrect responses. A classic example
is the question: What is your income? If a government agency is asking, a different figure
may be provided than the respondent would give on an application for a home mortgage. One
way to guard against such bias is to camouflage the study`s goals; Another remedy is to make
the questions very specific, allowing no room for personal interpretation. For example,
"Where are you employed?" could be followed by "What is your salary?" and "Do you have
any extra jobs?" A sequence of such questions may produce more accurate information.
Induced bias
Finally, it should be noted that the personal prejudices of either the designer of the study or
the data collector may tend to induce bias. In designing a questionnaire, questions may be
slanted in such a way that a particular response will be obtained even though it is inaccurate.
For example, an agronomist may apply fertilizer to certain key plots, knowing that they will
provide more favourable yields than others. To protect against induced bias, advice of an
individual trained in statistics should be sought in the design and someone else aware of
search pitfalls should serve in an auditing capacity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that using a sample in research saves mainly on money and time.
If a suitable sampling strategy is used, appropriate sample size selected and necessary
precautions taken to reduce on sampling and measurement errors, then a sample should yield
valid and reliable information. Details on sampling can be obtained from the references
included below and many other books on statistics or qualitative research which can be found
in libraries. All these were explored in the presentation above.
References
Webster. M, (2010), Webster`s nith new collegiate dictionary, Meriam -Webster Inc
Salant. P, (2009), How to conduct your own survey, John Wiley & Sons
Patton.M, (2014), Qualitative evaluation and research methods, SAGE Publications, New
Delhi.
Lapin. L, (2011), Statistics for mordern business decisions, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Trachoma, William M.K, (2006), Sampling, Retrieved October 28. 2012 From: “http://
www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampling.php
StatPac, (2012), Survey Sampling Methods, Retrieved October 28. 2012 From:
http://www.statpac.com/surveys/sampling.htm