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Common Sampling Errors | Qualtrics

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5 Common Sampling Errors

Author: Qualtrics (https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/author/qualtrics/) | October 5,

2010

When you survey a sample, your interest usually goes beyond just the people in the
sample. Rather, you are trying to get information to project onto a larger population.
For this reason, it is important to understand common sampling errors so you can
avoid them.

Population Specification Error—This error occurs when the researcher does not
understand who she should survey. For example, imagine a survey about
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breakfast cereal consumption. Who should she survey? It might be the entire
family, the mother, or the children. The mother probably makes the purchase
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decision, but the children influence her choice.

Sample Frame Error—A frame error occurs when the wrong sub-population is
used to select a sample. A classic frame error occurred in the 1936 presidential
election between Roosevelt and Landon. The sample frameType your message here and press [enter] to 
was from car
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registrations and telephone directories. In 1936, many Americans did not own

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cars or telephones and those who did were largely Republicans. The results
wrongly predicted a Republican victory.
Selection Error—This occurs when respondents self select their participation in
the study – only those that are interested respond. Selection error can be
controlled by going extra lengths to get participation. A typical survey process
includes initiating pre-survey contact requesting cooperation, actual surveying,
post survey follow-up if a response is not received, a second survey request, and
finally interviews using alternate modes such as telephone or person to person.
Non-Response—Non-response errors occur when respondents are different than
those who do not respond. This may occur because either the potential
respondent was not contacted or they refused to respond. The extent of this
non-response error can be checked through follow-up surveys using alternate
modes.
Sampling Errors—These errors occur because of variation in the number or
representativeness of the sample that responds. Sampling errors can be
controlled by (1) careful sample designs, (2) large samples, and (3) multiple
contacts to assure representative response.

Be sure to keep an eye out for these errors so you can avoid them in your research.

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