METHODS OF SAMPLING

Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of a subset

of individual observations within a population of individuals intended to yield
some knowledge about the population of concern, especially for the purposes of
making predictions based on statistical inference. Sampling is an important aspect
of data collection.
Researchers rarely survey the entire population for two reasons (Adèr,
Mellenbergh, & Hand, 2008): the cost is too high, and the population is dynamic in
that the individuals making up the population may change over time. The three
main advantages of sampling are that the cost is lower, data collection is faster, and
since the data set is smaller it is possible to ensure homogeneity and to improve the
accuracy and quality of the data.
Each observation measures one or more properties (such as weight, location,
color) of observable bodies distinguished as independent objects or individuals.
In survey sampling, survey weights can be applied to the data to adjust for
the sample design. Results from probability theory and statistical theory are
employed to guide practice. In business and medical research, sampling is widely
used for gathering information about a population.

Probability and nonprobability sampling

A probability sampling scheme is one in which every unit in the population has a

chance (greater than zero) of being selected in the sample, and this probability can
be accurately determined. The combination of these traits makes it possible to
produce unbiased estimates of population totals, by weighting sampled units
according to their probability of selection.
Example: We want to estimate the total income of adults living in a given street.
We visit each household in that street, identify all adults living there, and
randomly select one adult from each household. (For example, we can allocate
each person a random number, generated from a uniform distribution between 0
and 1, and select the person with the highest number in each household). We then
interview the selected person and find their income. People living on their own are
certain to be selected, so we simply add their income to our estimate of the total.
But a person living in a household of two adults has only a one-in-two chance of
selection. To reflect this, when we come to such a household, we would count the
selected person's income twice towards the total. (In effect, the person
who is selected from that household is taken as representing the person
who isn't selected.)
In the above example, not everybody has the same probability of selection; what
makes it a probability sample is the fact that each person's probability is known.
When every element in the populationdoes have the same probability of selection,
this is known as an 'equal probability of selection' (EPS) design. Such designs are
also referred to as 'self-weighting' because all sampled units are given the same
weight.
Probability sampling includes: Simple Random Sampling, Systematic Sampling,
Stratified Sampling, Probability Proportional to Size Sampling, and Cluster or
Multistage Sampling. These various ways of probability sampling have two things
in common:

1. Every element has a known nonzero probability of being sampled and

2. involves random selection at some point.

Nonprobability sampling is any sampling method where some elements of the

population have no chance of selection (these are sometimes referred to as 'out of
coverage'/'undercovered'), or where the probability of selection can't be accurately
determined. It involves the selection of elements based on assumptions regarding
the population of interest, which forms the criteria for selection. Hence, because
the selection of elements is nonrandom, nonprobability sampling does not allow
the estimation of sampling errors. These conditions give rise to exclusion bias,
placing limits on how much information a sample can provide about the
population. Information about the relationship between sample and population is
limited, making it difficult to extrapolate from the sample to the population.
Example: We visit every household in a given street, and interview the first person
to answer the door. In any household with more than one occupant, this is a
nonprobability sample, because some people are more likely to answer the door
(e.g. an unemployed person who spends most of their time at home is more likely
to answer than an employed housemate who might be at work when the
interviewer calls) and it's not practical to calculate these probabilities.
Nonprobability Sampling includes: Accidental Sampling, Quota
Sampling and Purposive Sampling. In addition, nonresponse effects may
turn any probability design into a nonprobability design if the characteristics of
nonresponse are not well understood, since nonresponse effectively modifies each
element's probability of being sampled.

Sampling methods

Probability Sampling Methods – A mathematical chance of selecting the

respondent.

There are a number of probability sampling strategies that can be used that vary in
their complexity. They are:

 Simple
 Systematic
 Stratified
 Proportionate
 Cluster
 Multistage

Simple Random Samples

With this method of sampling the potential people you want to interview are listed
e.g. a group of 100 are listed and a group of 20 may be selected from this list at
random. The selection may be done by computer.

Simple random sampling is the most straightforward of the random sampling

strategies. We use this strategy when we believe that the population is relatively
homogeneous for the characteristic of interest.

For example, let's say you were surveying first-time parents about their attitudes
toward mandatory seat belt laws. You might expect that their status as new parents
might lead to similar concerns about safety. On campus, those who share a major
might also have similar interests and values; we might expect psychology majors
to share concerns about access to mental health services on campus.
Systematic samples

Systematic sampling relies on arranging the target population according to some

ordering scheme and then selecting elements at regular intervals through that
ordered list. Systematic sampling involves a random start and then proceeds with
the selection of every kth element from then onwards. In this case, k=(population
size/sample size). It is important that the starting point is not automatically the first
in the list, but is instead randomly chosen from within the first to the kth element in
the list. A simple example would be to select every 10th name from the telephone
directory (an 'every 10th' sample, also referred to as 'sampling with a skip of 10').
As long as the starting point is randomized, systematic sampling is a type
of probability sampling. It is easy to implement and the stratification induced can
make it efficient, if the variable by which the list is ordered is correlated with the
variable of interest. 'Every 10th' sampling is especially useful for efficient
sampling from databases.
Example: Suppose we wish to sample people from a long street that starts in a
poor district (house #1) and ends in an expensive district (house #1000). A simple
random selection of addresses from this street could easily end up with too many
from the high end and too few from the low end (or vice versa), leading to an
unrepresentative sample. Selecting (e.g.) every 10th street number along the street
ensures that the sample is spread evenly along the length of the street,
representing all of these districts. (Note that if we always start at house #1 and end
at #991, the sample is slightly biased towards the low end; by randomly selecting
the start between #1 and #10, this bias is eliminated.)
However, systematic sampling is especially vulnerable to periodicities in the list. If
periodicity is present and the period is a multiple or factor of the interval used, the
sample is especially likely to be unrepresentative of the overall population, making
the scheme less accurate than simple random sampling.

Proportionate Sampling

Proportionate sampling is a variation of stratified random sampling. We use this

technique when our subgroups vary dramatically in size in our population. For
example, we are interested in risk taking among college students and suspect that
risk taking might differ between smokers and nonsmokers. Given increasing
societal pressures against smoking, there are many fewer smokers on campus than
nonsmokers. Rather than take equal numbers of smokers and nonsmokers, we want
each group represented in their proportions in the population.

Proportionate sampling strategies begin by stratifying the population into relevant

subgroups and then random sampling within each subgroup. The number of
participants that we recruit from each subgroup is equal to their proportion in the
population.

Cluster Sampling

Sometimes it is cheaper to 'cluster' the sample in some way e.g. by selecting

respondents from certain areas only, or certain time-periods only. (Nearly all
samples are in some sense 'clustered' in time - although this is rarely taken into
account in the analysis.)
Cluster sampling is an example of 'two-stage sampling' or 'multistage sampling': in
the first stage a sample of areas is chosen; in the second stage a sample of
respondents within those areas is selected.
This can reduce travel and other administrative costs. It also means that one does
not need a sampling frame listing all elements in the target population. Instead,
clusters can be chosen from a cluster-level frame, with an element-level frame
created only for the selected clusters. Cluster sampling generally increases the
variability of sample estimates above that of simple random sampling, depending
on how the clusters differ between themselves, as compared with the within-cluster
variation.

Nevertheless, some of the disadvantages of cluster sampling are the reliance of

sample estimate precision on the actual clusters chosen. If clusters chosen are
biased in a certain way, inferences drawn about population parameters from
these sample estimates will be far off from being accurate.

Multistage sampling 

Multistage sampling is a complex form of cluster sampling in which two or more

levels of units are embedded one in the other. The first stage consists of
constructing the clusters that will be used to sample from. In the second stage, a
sample of primary units is randomly selected from each cluster (rather than using
all units contained in all selected clusters). In following stages, in each of those
selected clusters, additional samples of units are selected, and so on. All ultimate
units (individuals, for instance) selected at the last step of this procedure are then
surveyed.
This technique, thus, is essentially the process of taking random samples of
preceding random samples. It is not as effective as true random sampling, but it
probably solves more of the problems inherent to random sampling. Moreover, It is
an effective strategy because it banks on multiple randomizations. As such, it is
extremely useful.

Multi-Stage Samples

Our final strategy within the broader category of probability sampling is multistage
sampling. This is our most sophisticated sampling strategy and it is often used in
large epidemiological studies. To obtain a representative national sample,
researchers may select zip codes at random from each state. Within these zip
codes, streets are randomly selected. Within each street, addresses are randomly
selected. While each zip code constitutes a cluster, which may not be as accurate as
other probability sampling strategies, it still can be very accurate.

With this sampling process the respondents are chosen through a process of
defined stages. For example residents within Islington (London) may have been
chosen for a survey through the following process:

Throughout the UK the south east may have been selected at random, ( stage 1),
within the UK London is selected again at random (stage 2), Islington is selected as
the borough (stage 3), then polling districts from Islington (stage 4) and then
individuals from the electoral register (stage 5).

As demonstrated five stages were gone through before the final selection of
respondents were selected from the electoral register.

Non Probability Samples

Nonprobability sampling strategies are used when it is practically impossible to use

probability sampling strategies. This typically occurs because of time and expense
constraints and the lack of an adequate sampling frame. Nonprobability sampling
is also used when the frequency of the behavior or characteristic of interest is so
low in the population that a more targeted strategy is needed to find sufficient
numbers of participants for the research.

Types of non- probabolity sampling are:

 Haphazard

 Purposive

 Convenience

 Quota

 Dimensional

Haphazard Sampling

Haphazard sampling is a strategy that is almost guaranteed to introduce bias into

your study. It should be avoided at all costs. A typical haphazard strategy uses a
"man-on-the-street" technique to recruit those who wander by or selects a sampling
frame that does not accurately reflect the population.

The most famous haphazard survey was the one conducted by the Literary Digest
to predict the winner of the 1936 presidential election. Participants were recruited
from telephone books and automobile registration lists. The poll predicted that
Landon would beat Roosevelt by a landslide. We now recognize that those who
owned automobiles and could afford telephones during the depression era were
more likely to vote Republican.

Purposive Sampling

Purposive sampling targets a particular group of people. When the desired

population for the study is rare or very difficult to locate and recruit for a study,
purposive sampling may be the only option. For example, you are interested in
studying cognitive processing speed of young adults who have suffered closed
head brain injuries in automobile accidents. This would be a difficult population to
find.

Your city has a well-established rehabilitation hospital and you contact the director
to ask permission to recruit from this population. The major problem with
purposive sampling is that the type of people who are available for study may be
different from those in the population who can't be located and this might introduce
a source of bias. For example, those available for study through the rehabilitation
hospital may have more serious injuries requiring longer rehabilitation, and their
families may have greater education and financial resources (which resulted in
their choosing this hospital for care).

Convenience Sampling

Convenience sampling (sometimes known as grab or opportunity sampling) is a

type of nonprobability sampling which involves the sample being drawn from that
part of the population which is close to hand. That is, a sample population selected
because it is readily available and convenient. It may be through meeting the
person or including a person in the sample when one meets them or chosen by
finding them through technological means such as the internet or through phone.
The researcher using such a sample cannot scientifically make generalizations
about the total population from this sample because it would not be representative
enough. For example, if the interviewer was to conduct such a survey at a shopping
center early in the morning on a given day, the people that he/she could interview
would be limited to those given there at that given time, which would not represent
the views of other members of society in such an area, if the survey was to be
conducted at different times of day and several times per week. This type of
sampling is most useful for pilot testing. Several important considerations for
researchers using convenience samples include:

1. Are there controls within the research design or experiment which can serve
to lessen the impact of a non-random convenience sample, thereby ensuring
the results will be more representative of the population?
2. Is there good reason to believe that a particular convenience sample would
or should respond or behave differently than a random sample from the
same population?
3. Is the question being asked by the research one that can adequately be
answered using a convenience sample?

Quota Sampling
In quota sampling, the population is first segmented into mutually exclusive sub-
groups, just as in stratified sampling. Then judgment is used to select the subjects
or units from each segment based on a specified proportion. For example, an
interviewer may be told to sample 200 females and 300 males between the age of
45 and 60.
It is this second step which makes the technique one of non-probability sampling.
In quota sampling the selection of the sample is non-random. For example
interviewers might be tempted to interview those who look most helpful. The
problem is that these samples may be biased because not everyone gets a chance of
selection. This random element is its greatest weakness and quota versus
probability has been a matter of controversy for many years.

Dimensional Sampling

An extension to quota sampling. The researcher takes into account several

characteristics e.g. gender, age income, residence education and ensures there is at
least one person in the study that represents that population. E.g. out of 10 people
you may want to make sure that 2 people are within a certain gender, two a certain
age group who have an income rate between £25000 and £30000, this will again
ensure the accuracy of the sample frame again.

Summary

 Who is in our study and how we sample them determines the

generalizability of the results of our study. Poor sampling is a major threat to
external validity.

 We have two types of sampling strategies: probability sampling and

nonprobability sampling. Only probability sampling strategies result in
representative samples.

 All probability sampling requires a sampling frame - a population defined

and available through records.

 There are six probability sampling strategies typically used in psychological

research: simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified sampling,
proportionate sampling, cluster sampling, and multistage sampling.
There are five nonprobability sampling strategies: haphazard, convenience, quota,
dimensional and purposive. Avoid haphazard samples at all costs.