Question

A) A researcher believes that a particular study exhibits large sampling error. What does the researcher mean by sampling error? B) How can sampling error be diminished? C) Discuss why one of the following methods of sample selection might yield sampling error: convenience, snowball, or judgmental.

Answer 1

(A) Sampling Error means the error in a statistical analysis arising from the unrepresentativeness of the sample taken.

(B) Sampling error can be diminished as follows:

(i) Increasing the size of the sample

(ii) Stratification: If the population contains dissimilar units, the population is divided into different groups containing similar units, called strata. From each group, a sub - sample is selected in a random manner.

(C)

(i) Convenience sampling might yield sampling error because in convenience sampling, the subjects are selected just because they are easiest to recruit for the study. The researcher did not consider selecting subjects that are representative of the entire population.

(ii) In snowball sampling, the research participants recruit other participants for the study, thus the sample will not be representative of the population.

(iii)

In judgemental sampling, the researcher recruits participants for the study based on his knowledge and professional judgement and thus the sample will not be representative of the population.