How Do I Manage the Sampling Process?

This chapter is concerned with sampling, which is all about making choices related to data sources that will be the focus of your data gathering strategies. In social and behavioural research, sampling refers to much more than selecting human participants, especially when patterns of guiding assumptions, specific research configurations and specific data gathering strategies are considered in conjunction with the research context, research frames and associated research questions and/or hypotheses. This includes choices of the data sources themselves as well as choices of the circumstances, contexts and occasions in which data sources are encountered. We review a range of probability (e.g., various types of random sampling scheme, useful in research guided by positivist pattern of guiding assumptions) and non-probability sampling schemes (schemes, such as purposive, convenience, quota and theoretical, that can be useful under any pattern of guiding assumptions, especially interpretivist/constructivist assumptions). We also discuss two critical constraints associated with implementing any sampling scheme, ethical constraints and feasibility constraints, and reinforce the importance of having a Plan B for sampling.

[1]  Peter Lynn.  Principles of Sampling , 2016 .

[2]  C G Drury,et al.  Task analysis methods in industry. , 1983, Applied ergonomics.

[3]  Kathleen M. T. Collins,et al.  A Typology of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research , 2007 .

[4]  J. Corbin,et al.  Developing Grounded Theory: The Second Generation , 2009 .

[5]  K. Charmaz,et al.  The sage handbook of grounded theory , 2007 .

[6]  Philip E. T. Lewis,et al.  Research Methods for Business Students , 2006 .

[7]  Edgar Erdfelder,et al.  G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences , 2007, Behavior research methods.

[8]  A. Strauss,et al.  Basics of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[9]  M. Csíkszentmihályi,et al.  Happiness in Everyday Life: The Uses of Experience Sampling , 2003 .

[10]  Carmen R. Wilson VanVoorhis,et al.  Understanding Power and Rules of Thumb for Determining Sample Sizes , 2007 .

[11]  K. Charmaz,et al.  Constructing Grounded Theory , 2014 .

[12]  Donald R. Cooper,et al.  Business Research Methods , 1980 .

[13]  W. Neuman,et al.  Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches , 2002 .

[14]  James E. Bartlett,et al.  Organizational research: Determining appropriate sample size in survey research , 2001 .

[15]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  A power primer. , 1992, Psychological bulletin.

[16]  S. Green.  How Many Subjects Does It Take To Do A Regression Analysis. , 1991, Multivariate behavioral research.

[17]  Evie Gardner,et al.  Power, effect and sample size using GPower: practical issues for researchers and members of research ethics committees , 2007 .

[18]  Valerie L. Shalin,et al.  Cognitive task analysis , 2000 .

[19]  E. Erdfelder,et al.  Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses , 2009, Behavior research methods.

[20]  Karen Farquharson.  A Different Kind of Snowball: Identifying Key Policymakers , 2005 .

[21]  J. Gill,et al.  Research Methods For Managers , 1991 .

[22]  Peter Lynn.  Sampling in Human Studies , 2016 .

[23]  E. Brunswik.  Perception and the Representative Design of Psychological Experiments , 1957 .

[24]  Charles Teddlie,et al.  Mixed Methods Sampling A Typology With Examples , 2016 .

[25]  M. Smithson.  Statistics with confidence , 2000 .

[26]  Gavriel Salvendy,et al.  The cognitive task analysis methods for job and task design: review and reappraisal , 2004, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[27]  N. Pennington,et al.  Human judgment and decision making: Theories, methods, and procedures , 1980 .