Sampling in qualitative research
The two levels of sampling used by Savage et al. (2005) for the Manchester study were:
Random and purposive
Convenience and snowball
Statistical and non-statistical
Contexts and participants
Contexts and participants
Bryman reports (p409) on the study by Savage et al. (2005) in his discussion on sampling levels. The main point is that we may not get the information we want from a single attempt at sampling. The study’s authors picked Manchester as a typical case, then four residential areas within the Manchester area. Next they used a quasi-random method for selecting households within each area. Answer (d) is therefore correct. They did use the electoral register as a sampling frame, so there was an element of statistics and randomness in their approach. Were answers (a) and (c) inverted (to purposive and random, for example), they would not be totally inaccurate.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 409
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 409
Contexts and participants Bryman reports (p409) on the study by Savage et al. (2005) in his discussion on sampling levels. The main point is that we may not get the information we want from a single attempt at sampling. The study’s authors picked Manchester as a typical case, then four residential areas within the Manchester area. Next they used a quasi-random method for selecting households within each area. Answer (d) is therefore correct. They did use the electoral register as a sampling frame, so there was an element of statistics and randomness in their approach. Were answers (a) and (c) inverted (to purposive and random, for example), they would not be totally inaccurate.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 409
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 409
Related posts
Apart from people, what else can purposive sampling be used for?A. Documents
B. Timing of events
C. Context
D. All of the above
The minimum sample size for qualitative interviewing is:
A. 30
B. 31
C. 60
D. It’s hard to say
What is meant by the term “theoretical saturation”?
A. Deciding on a theory and then testing it repeatedly
B. The point at which a concept is so well developed that no further data collection is necessary
C. The problem of having used too many theories in one’s data analysis
D. A state of frustration caused by having used every possible statistical test without finding any significant results
Which of the following is not a type of purposive sampling?
A. Probability sampling
B. Deviant case sampling
C. Theoretical sampling
D. Snowball sampling
Generic purposive sampling can be characterized as being:
A. Fixed and a priori
B. Fixed and ad-hoc
C. Contingent and post-hoc
D. Contingent and ad infinitum
Why is an ethnographic study unlikely to use a probability sample?
A. Because the aim of understanding is more important than that of generalization
B. Because the researcher cannot control who is willing to talk to them
C. Because it is difficult to identify a sampling frame
D. All of the above
What can be generalized from a purposive sample?
A. That the findings are true for broadly similar cases
B. That the findings are true for the entire population
C. That the opposite is true for people who are the opposite of those in the sample
D. That purposive sampling is better than probability sampling
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