Sampling

What is opportunity sampling?

Whoever is available to participate at the time

What are the strengths of opportunity sampling?

• convenient - pragmatic

• limited effort

What are the weaknesses of opportunity sampling?

• may not be representative of target population

• may be biased

What is self-selected sampling?

Participants volunteer to take part in the experiment

What are the strengths of self-selected sampling?

• quick

• more ethical

• inexpensive

What are the weaknesses of self-selected sampling?

• volunteers may have something in common - biased

• difficult to generalise

What is Snowball sampling?

Participants contact other people to participate

What are the strengths of snowball sampling?

• relatively easy

• allows for researchers to study certain, harder to reach groups

What are weaknesses of snowball sampling?

• biased

• difficult to generalise

What is random sampling?

Every member of the target population has an equal opportunity to be chosen

What are the strengths of random sampling?

• remove bias

• representative

What are the weaknesses of random sampling?

• can be expensive

• time consuming