Sampling

• What is a sample?

  The group of people who take part in the research study known as the subset of the target population which aims to be representative of that population
• What is the target population?

  The group of people about whom psychologists want to make a conclusion more generally. From this group a smaller sample is selected
• What is a representative sample?

  A sample of people who are representative of the target population
• What will researchers use to draw conclusions from samples?

  Generalisation
• What are the four types of sampling methods?

  1. Random sampling

  2. Opportunity sampling

  3. Systematic sampling

  4. Stratified sampling
• What is the process of random sampling?

  Produced by selecting people from the target population at random ensuring that every member has an equal chance of being selected
• What is the evaluation of random sampling?

  If truly random it avoids bias however it is impossible to obtain a truly random sample because not all members of the target population may be known. Also it is likely to take more time and effort than other methods
• What is opportunity sampling?

  Produced by selecting people who are willing and available at the time, this often includes adverts or online campaigns
• What is another term for opportunity sampling?

  Volunteer sampling
• What is an evaluation of opportunity sampling?

  Relatively easy to do, quicker and cheaper however not likely to be representative of any target population because it will probably comprise of people in the same context
• What is systematic sampling?

  Produced by selecting every nth person on a list of the target population
• What is the evaluation of systematic sampling?

  Should be representative and avoid research bias, but only possible if all members of the target population can be identified
• What is stratified sampling?

  Produced by selecting participants in proportion to their frequency in the target population
• What is the evaluation of stratified sampling?

  Most representative method and results can be easily generalised however time consuming and difficult to carry out, participants may not agree to take part I'm still open to bias as the researcher has a choice over the subgroups being used