Introduction to Sampling

Mari Jack
Image Source: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampterm.php
 Types of Sampling

• Probability Sampling

• Nonprobability Sampling
 Probability Sampling
• Simple Random Sampling

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 Probability Sampling

• Stratified Random Sampling

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 Probability Sampling
• Systematic Random Sampling

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 Probability Sampling
• Cluster (area)
Random
Sampling
 Probability Sampling
• Multistage Sampling

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 Nonprobability Sampling
• Accidental/haphazard or convenience sampling

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 Nonprobability Sampling
• Purposive Sampling
– Modal instance

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 Nonprobability Sampling
• Purposive Sampling
– Expert Sampling

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 Nonprobability Sampling
• Purposive Sampling

– Quota Sampling
• Proportional
• Nonproportional
 Nonprobability Sampling
• Purposive Sampling
– Heterogeneity Sampling

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 Nonprobability Sampling
• Purposive Sampling
– Snowball Sampling

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 References
Babbie, Earl. The Practice of Social Research. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage
Learning, 2009.
Kerlinger, Fred N. Foundations of Behavioral Research. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich College Publishers, 1986.
Nachmias, David and Chava Nachmias. Research Methods in the Social Sciences.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1976.
Rosenthal, Robert and Ralph L. Rosnow. Essentials of Behavioral Research: Methods
and Data Analysis. New York: McGraw Hill Inc., 1991.
Trochim, William M. K. “Sampling”
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampling.php Research Methods
Knowledge Base (accessed November 11, 2009).
How big should your sample
be?

• Rule of thumb: Bigger is better

• As n -> N, Confidence Interval -> 0
SE = s/√n
A handy graph
Or is a chart better?
 But is it really that easy?

• All equations for n given N are based on

parameters of the population such as the
standard deviation
• Kaplan’s “paradox of sampling”
• On the one hand, the sample is of no use if it is not truly representative of
its population, if it is not a “fair” sample. On the other hand, to know that
it is representative, we must know what the characteristics of the
population are, so that we can judge whether the sample reflects them
properly; but in that case, we have no need of the sample at all.

• (Qtd. in Rosenthal 261)

Considerations for choosing
sample size
• The degree of precision required between the
sample and population
• Less precision = smaller sample

• variability of the population

• A more homogenous population requires a smaller sample

• method of sampling
• A stratified sample requires fewer cases for accuracy

• way in which results will be analyzed

• A smaller sample puts limits on types of analyses possible

(Powell 105-6)
 Statistical Power

• Power = 1 - Beta
• Beta is the chance of error in rejecting the
alternative hypothesis when it is true or
accepting the null hypothesis when it is false
• ideally power should be .99
• usually settle for between .7 and .9
(Kraemer 10)
 Considerations for choosing
acceptable Power
• Specification of research goals in precise and
realistic terms
• Identification of the design and measurement
options available to address the research
question
• Evaluation of the resources (time, personnel,
and funding) available to the project.
(Kraemer 17)
How Power Effects Results

• Power dictates “Critical Effect Size”

• a measure of how strong the theory must
minimally be to be “important to society”

• Can vary by field

• Sometimes a case study of n=1 can be
important to society

(Kraemer 24)
Easy Methods to Avoid Doing
the Math Yourself

• http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm

• http://www.ezsurvey.com/samplesize.html

• http://www.macorr.com/ss_calculator.htm
 References

• Frankfort-Nachmias, Chava and David Nachmias. Research Methods in the

Social Sciences. 7th ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2008.

• Kraemer, Helena Chmura and Sue Thiemann. How Many Subjects? :

Statistical Power Analysis in Research. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage
Publications, 1987.

• Powell, Ronald R. and Lynn Silipigni Connaway. Basic Research Methods for
Librarians. Library and Information Science Text Series. 4th ed. Westport,
Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2004.

• Rosenthal, Robert and Ralph L. Rosnow. Essentials of Behavioral Research :

Methods and Data Analysis. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
Sample Error and Sampling Bias

Terence Kratz – IS280 - 11/12/09

 Sample Error

How close the sample size is to the population size, or how

well a sample of that size approximates a given population.
 What is it?
 The standard deviation of a sampling
distribution is referred to as the standard error
or sampling error.
 “Margin of Error”
 The greater your sample size, the smaller the
standard error. This is because the greater the
sample size, the closer the sample is to the
actual population itself.
 Varies depending on what is being sampled.
 Why should you care?
 Depending on what claims are being made for
what size population, the margin of error can
indicate how strong the relationship being
shown by the study actually is.
 Sampling Bias

The error resulting from taking a non-random

sample of a population
 What is it?

Based on sampling method used, some members of a
population are less likely to be included in the sample.
 May undermine the external validity of a test.

Reduces the ability for results to be generalized to a
larger population.
 Some studies might deliberately take a biased sample
in order to produce misleading results.
 More often, sampling bias occurs because of the
inherent difficulty in obtaining a truly representative
sample of a complex population.
 Types of Sampling Bias
 Selection from only a specific area of the
population (intentional (“purposive”), or
accidental “convenience sample”)
 Self-selection bias
 Pre-screening of or advertising for volunteers
within particular groups
 Exclusion bias
 Selection from a Specific Area
 Biased if certain members are under-
represented relative to others in the population
being generalized to.
 Biased if certain members are overrepresented
relative to others in the population.
 Appropriateness depends on the study and the
population; also called “non-probability
sampling”.
 Pre-screening
 Related to Selection from a Specific Area, but
this form of bias occurs when participants are
specifically screened for certain characteristics.
 Often used intentionally to focus a study on
segments of the population with certain traits
(ex. medical drug trials).
 May also include selecting only from certain
kinds or groups of subjects in order to
intentionally skew the sample toward a certain
desired trait or characteristic.
 Self-Selection Bias
 Possible whenever the group of people being
studied has any form of control over whether to
participate.
 Participants' decision to participate may be
correlated with traits that affect the study,
making the participants a non-representative
sample.
 People who have strong opinions or substantial
knowledge may be more willing to spend time
answering a survey than those who do not.
 Self Selection Bias Cont.: Polls
 Online and phone-in polls, which are biased
samples because the respondents are self-
selected. This means that people with strong
opinions are more likely to respond to the poll
than people who have less strong opinions (or
feel indifferent). This tends to polarize
responses by giving greater weight to segments
of the population with extreme opinions.
 Exclusion bias
 Exclusion, often inadvertent, of any particular
group or type of subjects from the sample.
 e.x. exclusion of subjects who have recently
migrated into the study area (population
demographics have changed since the study
was initiated).
 Intentional exclusion is also sometimes used to
screen out types of subjects that would normally
be expected to be outliers in the study.
 Literature Review

Mixed Method Sampling

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A

Typology of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social
Science Research," The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2
(2007): 281-316

sam bloomberg-rissman
 Mixed method sampling

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE METHODS USED

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
 Generalizations

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
 Sample Myths

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
Sample Method Selection

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
 Sample Size?

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
 Mixed Methods?

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
Concurrent? Sequential?

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
 Representation and
Legitimation

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
 Ethical sampling

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
 Conclusion

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology

of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research,"
The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2 (2007): 281-316
 REFERENCES
• Babbie, Earl. The Practice of Social Research. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning,
2009.
• Frankfort-Nachmias, Chava and David Nachmias. Research Methods in the Social
Sciences. 7th ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2008.
• Kerlinger, Fred N. Foundations of Behavioral Research. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich College Publishers, 1986.
• Kraemer, Helena Chmura and Sue Thiemann. How Many Subjects? : Statistical Power
Analysis in Research. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1987.
• Nachmias, David and Chava Nachmias. Research Methods in the Social Sciences. New
York: St. Martin’s Press, 1976.
• Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Kathleen M. T. Collins. “A Typology of Mixed Methods
Sampling Designs in Social Science Research," The Qualitative Report 12, no. 2
(2007): 281-316
• Powell, Ronald R. and Lynn Silipigni Connaway. Basic Research Methods for Librarians.
Library and Information Science Text Series. 4th ed. Westport, Conn.: Libraries
Unlimited, 2004.
• Rosenthal, Robert and Ralph L. Rosnow. Essentials of Behavioral Research : Methods
and Data Analysis. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
• Rosenthal, Robert and Ralph L. Rosnow. Essentials of Behavioral Research: Methods and
Data Analysis. New York: McGraw Hill Inc., 1991.
• Trochim, William M. K. “Sampling”
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampling.php Research Methods Knowledge Base
(accessed November 11, 2009).
• Photos on slides 39-49 courtesy Sam Bloomberg-Rissman Photography