sually easier and cheaper to implement, but they may result in
samples that are less representative of the whole population.
Convenience
involves selecting a sample from a convenient location without
considering the degree to which the sample is representative.
Clinical health research uses this
taking the patients/participants who are available - as random
sampling from the population is almost impossible
Quota
Under conveience
and setting quotas for sub-groups prior to convenience sampling.
Individuals who have certain characteristics of interest
are selected from a convenient location until the required
sample size is reached (the quota).
Snowball
using networks to identify a sample.
Used when sample frames not available
uses the first few participants with the desired
characteristics to identify similar people to
enlarge the group.
Ppl who meet criteria are selected
Collect the info
asked to identify other individuals who meet
the sampling criteria
Purposive
researcher making a decision about who will be able to
provide the desired information and only sampling from
these identified individuals.
participants are handpicked as they have the information needed.
used when the population of interest is very small
and it would not be practical or economical to
sample the general population in order to identify
them.
Is the sample rep of the whole pop?
Consider if adequate in size, is accurate in its
characteristics and is complete.
consider the sampling method to be used.
Statisticians
use sampling distribution theory to help them
to estimate how representative a sample is in
relation to the target population
Sampling error
discrepancy between our sample mean and the true
population mean (average).
calculated from the sample size and the amount of variability in the sample.
sample mean is rarely exactly equal to the population mean
expect the sample mean to be close to the
population mean (i.e. to estimate the population
mean) provided we have used a robust sampling
method.