• In research terms a sample is a group of people,

objectives, or items that are taken from a larger

population for measurement.

• The sample should be representative of the

population to ensure that we can generalise the
findings from the research sample to the
population as a whole.
• Sampling frame. The group of units or individuals
who have a legitimate chance of being selected.

• Sampling bias means that the samples of a stochastic

variable that are collected to determine its distribution
are selected incorrectly and do not represent the true
distribution because of non-random reasons.
Uses randomization and takes steps to ensure all members of a
population have a chance of being selected.
• Random sampling – every member has an equal
chance

An example of a simple random sample would be the

names of 25 employees being chosen out of a hat
from a company of 250 employees. In this case,
the population is all 250 employees, and the sample is
random because each employee has an equal chance
of being chosen. Random sampling is used in science
to conduct randomized control tests or for blinded
experiments.
  Stratified sampling – population divided into subgroups
(strata) and members are randomly selected from each
group.

For example, if the researcher wanted a sample of 50,000 graduates

using age range, the proportionate stratified random sample will be
obtained using this formula: (sample size/population size) x stratum
size. The table below assumes a population size of 180,000 MBA
graduates per year.
• Systematic sampling – uses a specific system to select
members such as every 10th person on an alphabetized
list

For example, if you wanted to select a random group

of 1,000 people from a population of 50,000 using
systematic sampling, all the potential participants
must be placed in a list and a starting point would be
selected. Once the list is formed, every 50th person on
the list (starting the count at the selected starting
point) would be chosen as a participant, since
50,000/1,000 = 50.
• Cluster Random Sampling – divides the population into
clusters, clusters are randomly selected and all members of the
cluster selected are sampled

An example of cluster sampling is area sampling or geographical

cluster sampling. Each cluster is a geographical area. Because a
geographically dispersed population can be expensive to survey,
greater economy than simple random sampling can be achieved
by grouping several respondents within a local area into a cluster.
It is usually necessary to increase the total sample size to achieve
equivalent precision in the estimators, but cost savings may make
such an increase in sample size feasible.
 Multi-stage Random Sampling – a combination of one
or more of the above methods

Johnston et. al’s survey on drug use in high schools used three
stage sampling: geographic areas, followed by high schools
within those areas, followed by senior students in those schools.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics divides cities into “collection

districts”, then blocks, then households. Each stage uses random
sampling, creating a need to list specific households only after
the final stage of sampling.
• Does not rely on the use of randomization techniques to
select members.
• This is typically done in studies where randomization is not
possible in order to obtain a representative sample.
• Bias is more of a concern with this type of sampling.
• Convenience or Accidental Sampling – members or
units are selected based on availability

For instance, if you’re a marketing student who has been given a

task to get feedback on “scope of content marketing in 2018”,
you’d quickly create an online survey and send a link to all the
contacts on your phone, share a link on social media and also talk
to people you meet daily face-to-face.

• Purposive Sampling – members of a particular

group are purposefully sought after

For example, you may be conducting a study on why high school

students choose community college over university. You might
canvas high school students and your first question would be “Are
you planning to attend college?” People who answer “No,” would
be excluded from the study.
• Modal Instance Sampling – members or units are the most
common within a defined group and therefore are sought
after

For example, Aitken et. al (2004) used modal instance sampling

to survey the typical All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) user — adolescent
males attending rural community schools.

The purpose of the survey was to develop educational strategies

to improve safety. By the same manner, this type of sampling
could also be used to investigate new products. The “typical”
customer could provide valuable feedback on what they think
about potential new product lines.
• Expert Sampling – members considered to be of high
quality are chosen for participation.

A reason to use experts is to validate another sampling

method (Singh, 2007). For example, let’s say you want to
use snowball sampling to identify addicts in your area. You are
concerned that using this non-random sampling method will
adversely affect your results and the way your results are
perceived by others. You can ask a panel of experts their
opinion on whether snowball sampling is the most appropriate
sampling method.
• Proportional And Non-proportional Quota Sampling – members
are sampled until exact proportions of certain types of data are
obtained or until sufficient data in different categories is
collected

 In proportional quota sampling you want to represent the major

characteristics of the population by sampling a proportional
amount of each.

For instance, if you know the population has 40% women and 60% men, and
that you want a total sample size of 100, you will continue sampling until
you get those percentages and then you will stop. So, if you've already got
the 40 women for your sample, but not the sixty men, you will continue to
sample men but even if legitimate women respondents come along, you will
not sample them because you have already "met your quota." The problem
here (as in much purposive sampling) is that you have to decide the specific
characteristics on which you will base the quota. Will it be by gender, age,
education race, religion, etc.?
 Non-proportional quota sampling is a bit less
restrictive. In this method, you specify the minimum
number of sampled units you want in each
category. Here, you're not concerned with having
numbers that match the proportions in the
population. Instead, you simply want to have
enough to assure that you will be able to talk about
even small groups in the population. This method is
the non-probabilistic analogue of stratified random
sampling in that it is typically used to assure that
smaller groups are adequately represented in your
sample.
• Snowball Sampling – members are sampled and then asked to
help identify other members to sample and this process
continues until enough samples are collected

Virtual snowball sampling technique was used in order to find

participants for the study of a minority group - Argentinian
entrepreneurs living in Spain. About 60 percent of this population
has double nationality – both Spanish and Argentinian. Spanish
national statistics classifies them as European citizens only and
there is no information about the place of birth tied to the profiles
of entrepreneurs in Spain either. Therefore, referring to national
statistics only, made it impossible to build a sample frame for this
research. The use of virtual networks in this example of hard to
reach population, increased the number of participating subjects
and as a consequence, improved the representativeness of results
of the study.
• Purposeful Sampling - also known as
purposive and selective sampling, purposeful
sampling is a sampling technique that qualitative
researchers use to recruit participants who can
provide in-depth and detailed information about
the phenomenon under investigation.
An example of this would be a student who seeks to
look at current nurses’ perceptions of leadership styles
within a specific hospital setting. This one sentence
description alone can already generate two selection
criteria: (a) must be an active nurse and (b) must work
at a specific hospital setting. Additional criteria such
as number of years in the field or level of nursing
education will ensure participants have a similar
foundation.
• Convenience Sampling – this is a sampling
technique that qualitative researchers use to
recruit participants who are easily accessible and
convenient to the researchers. Oftentimes this may
include utilizing geographic location and resources
that make participant recruitment convenient.
An example of this would be a teacher who wanted
to examine the perceptions of teachers about a
policy change and decided to utilize a school within
the district he or she worked in to recruit
participants.

Another example would be a professional who is a

member of a professional organization and wanted
to recruit participants through contact information
available to members of that organization.

Both examples would be convenient to each

researcher but would also require obtaining
permissions to recruit participants (from the district
and professional organization respectively).
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/simple-random-
sample.asp#targetText=A%20simple%20random%20sample%20is,equal%20probability%2
0of%20being%20chosen.&targetText=An%20example%20of%20a%20simple,a%20compan
y%20of%20250%20employees.

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tative+and+qualitative+research

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https://businessjargons.com/convenience-sampling.html

Explorable.com (Sep 1, 2009). Quota Sampling. Retrieved Aug 17, 2019 from
Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/quota-sampling

Explorable.com (Sep 1, 2009). Quota Sampling. Retrieved Aug 17, 2019 from
Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/quota-sampling

https://www.statisticssolutions.com/qualitative-sampling-techniques/