Unit 10: Sampling.
52 Basic Components of Sampling
I love the sampling unit. I do! I can’t help myself, so don’t hate me. But examining that which relates to sampling is CRUCIAL for determining Should You Believe It (SYBI). And more often than not, the researchers (in the limitations section) are like, “Hold on…this only applies to these peeps.” But somehow that gets omitted in the journalistic reboot.
Also, in subsequent chapters we are going to talk about random (probability) and non-random (non-probability) sampling strategies. I’m telling you right now that it would be best if you just divorce everything you currently know about the word “random” and what it means Right. Now.
Rightnow.
I am 100% serious.
Learning Objectives
- What are the components of sampling?
- Learn the terms sample, target population, and sample frame
Components of Sampling
What is a sample?
A sample is a group of people who represent a target population. They will be your actual unit of a study.
Remember: Sampling is done to represent an entire population. We using sampling because we can’t ask every single person on Earth a question! Determining who should be in your sample population is very important. To understand how people select their sample, we need to see an example:
- To determine who will be in our sample, we must first decide on who our target population is.
- Ex. College students
- Now, college students is too big of a group, so we must narrow it to a sample frame.
- Ex: Iowa college students
- After the sample frame is selected, you then need to choose a sampling method or strategy, which is covered in depth in the next unit.
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