Participants

Time sampling

participants are observed during specified time periods e.g. every 10 minutes. The specific behaviour is tallied at each interval and then the average is taken

time sampling evaluation

advantage-gives an indication of how frequently behaviour may occur over a long period of time

disadvantage-behaviours are likely to be missed meaning the observation may not be representative

Event sampling

participants are observed carrying out particular events/activities e.g. picking their nose

event sampling evaluation

advantage- behaviours are less likely to be missed

disadvantage- difficult to record all behaviours if too many events happen at once

Target population

the group of individuals that a researcher is interested in studying e.g. people in the UK

Sampling frame

a smaller group that is identified when it is unrealistic to study the whole target population e.g. people in cardiff instead of the UK

Self-selected (volunteer) sampling

participants select themselves for research e.g. volunteer after seeing an advert

Self-selected sampling evaluation

advantage- avoids researcher bias as they do not select the sample themselves

disadvantage-population bias as the type of people volunteering do not tend to be representative of the target population e.g. only extroverts will volunteer

Opportunity sampling

participants are selected at the researchers convenience e.g. picking people who are in the specific location at the time

opportunity sampling evaluation

advantage- easier and quicker than other methods as you just pick people at your convenience

disadvantage- affected by researcher or population bias as it is likely that participants are taken from a small part of the target population making the results not representative

Random sampling

participants are selected from the sampling frame, where everyone has an equal chance of being selected e.g. names being pulled out of a hat

random sampling evaluation

advantage- avoids researcher bias as all members of the target population have an equal chance of being selected

disadvantage- could be affected by population bias as the random sample might select similar types of people so the results may not be representative of the target population

Quota sampling

Target population is divided into subgroups and the participants are chosen from each subgroup at the convenience of the researcher like opportunity sampling

Quota sampling evaluation

advantage- more representative than opportunity sampling as participants are divided into subgroups first so the results can be generalised

disadvantage- could still be effected by bias as not everyone in the subgroups have an equal chance of being selected so the results may not be representative of the target population

Stratified sampling

target group is divided into subgroups and the participants are selected randomly from each subgrup

Stratified sampling evaluation

advantage- more representative than other methods as participants are randomly selected from subgroups making the results generalisable

disadvantage- time consuming as you have to divide participants into subgroups and randomly select them

Systematic sampling

selecting every nth person on a list of the target population

Systematic sampling evaluation

advantage- avoids researcher bias as the researcher does not influence the participants chosen

disadvantage- results may not be representative of the target population as every nth person might be male and not everyone will have an equal opportunity to be selected

Snowball sampling

current participants recruit other participants from people they know

Snowball sampling evaluation

advantage- enables a researcher to access participants why usually are difficult to access e.g. drug addicts

disadvantage- results may not be representative of target population because all participants are friends of friends