Participants

Descibe 2 features of target population

• Group of individulas a researcher is interested in

• At the end of the study researcher wants to be able to make a statement about this target population of people.

What is meant by sampling frame

Acomplete list of everyone or everything you want to study, specific than the target population.

What is mean by random sampling and describe 2 techniques used to do it?

• Random sampling - unbiased and all members of target population have an equal chance of selection

  • lottery method - Get list of all ppl in target population and out into hta/lottery barrel and select number of names needed in study

  • Random number generator - Number everyone in target population use app, calculator to generate random numbers.

Give 2 strength and a weakness of random sampling

• + Its a fair method and researcher cant be bias , sample represents whole population

• - Can be time consuming if target population is large

How is opportunity sampling obtained?

Identifying target population with convenient location and asking ppl if they would like to be involved in study.

Give a strength and weakness of opportunity sample

• + Easy bc you just use first suitable person you find, less time consuming

• May end up with bias sample bc selection was who was easier to access at time.

How can you carry out systematic sampling?

Use of predetermine system to select ptp ( e.g selecting every 10th person from phone book and asking if they want to participate).

Give 2 strengths and weakness of systematic sampling

• + researcher cant be accused of being bias as long as 1st ptp is chosen randomly, less time consuming

• - however may be bias bc selection has elements of chance e.g selecting every 4th person but every 4th person coud be male)

Describe how to use stratified sampling

Divides target population into subgroups (e.g by gender, age) then ptp selected randomly from each subgroup.

Give 2 strength and weakness of stratified sampling

• + can guarantee all subgroups in target population will be represented in sample - generalisable, less chance of researcher bias

• - time consuming to seperate ptp into groups

What is meant by quota sampling?

Target population is divided into subgroups, ptp are chosen by researcher from each group but not randomly

Give a strength and 2 weakness of quota sampling

• + guarantee that all subgroups in target population will be represented in sample,

• - time consuming to seperate ptp into groups , also chance of bias bc researcher opportunistically selects ptp.

What is meant by self selected sample (volunteer)?

Ptp volunteer to take part in a study that have seen e.g newspaper, advert etc

Give a strength and 2 weakness of self selected samples

• + Ptp are interested in taking part, ethical in terms of consent

• - Volunteers may not be from appropriate target population, researcher may not have enough ptp if not enough ppl volunteer

What is meant by snowball sampling?

current ptp recruited by researcher recruit more ptp from ppl they already know

Give a strength and 2 weaknesses of snowball sampling

• + People who are hard to access can be recruited (e.g drug addicts)

• - Initial ptp may not know any other ptp who fit into target, may be time consuming bc researcher has to wait for initial ptp to contact more potential ptp

What is observational sampling and what are the 2 types?

• Involve observing behaviour which are scored

  • Event sampling, time sampling

What is meant by event sampling?

Psychologist observes and records specific behaviour (event) each time it occurs to create a total score

Give 2 strengths and weakness of event sampling

• + records all events during observations, more straightforward and easy to do

• - can be overwhelming for researcher bc they have to keep constantly recording event, can be invasive to constantly record ptp behaviour

What is meant by time sampling?

psychologist observed and records behaviour at specidiec time intervals then create average score for each ptp observed

Give 2 strengths and 2 weakness of time sampling

• + show how behaviour is spread out over an observation period, researcher wont get overwhelmed with too much data throughout

• - limited bc records behaviour that occur at specific time points, may be complex to organize bc need to keep track of each interval