L2 Sampling and Questionnaires

3 sampling techniques

3 sampling techniques

random

systematic

stratified

Random

When Used?

How Calculated?

Benefits?

• when the study area is the same throughout.

• using a random number generator on calculator.

• every member of the population has an equal chance of being picjed and therefore the only true method of sampling.

• negative - can lead to clustering.

Systematic

When Used?

How Calculated?

Benefits?

• when study area includes an environmental gradient. you would expect a variable to change in a regular manner as you move away from the start.

• take transect distance and divide into equal number of spaces so evenly distributed.

• quick and easy to do

• negatives - easy to miss variation such as a sand dune slack. bias.

Stratified

When Used?

How Calculated?

Benefits?

• when study area includes significantly different parts (subsets). make sure that the number of samples taken is representative of the importance of each subset within the total population.

• in sand dune investigation, an example would be to choose to sample where significant changes are rather than equally spaced intervals.

• Overcomes the problem of missing variation

• Difficult to obtain the background data.

When carrying out a questionnaire, what must you think about?

Decide on your questions (what do you need to find out and what type of question are you going to ask. - open or closed)

Whether to do the questions orally or give them in written form

How you are going ro record your answers (remembering isn't reliable, write them down?)

Remember people don't have to answer questions and they may be sensitive about some things e.g. Age groups and income groups.

What do we mean by open and closed questions?

Open:  These are questions that have infinite numbers of answers. The respondent has no restriction on how they might answer e.g. What have you enjoyed about your Easter Break?

Closed:  These are when there is a limited number of responses. These questions are often multiple choice in style e.g. What have you enjoyed about your Easter Break? A: Revising Geography B: Chocolate Easter Eggs C: No Geography lessons D: Lying in bed till midday E: Other

Advantages and Disadvantages of Open and Closed Questions

	Advantages	Disadvantages
Open	You are getting the respondents. Personal opinion. They are not limited in their response.	Some responses might not be relevant to your research Respondents may not understand the question and give you an irrelevant response Results are very hard to analyse using graphs or tables
Closed	All answers will be relevant to your research. The results are easy to analyse using graphs and tables	The results lack personal opinion. They can be very generalised. You are nearly always forced to have an 'other' box meaning you don't know what the respondent thinks. You personal opinion has been placed on the question (subjective).