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Probability Samples
The idea behind this type is random selection. More specifically, each sample
from the population of interest has a known probability of selection under a
given sampling scheme. There are four categories of probability samples
described below.
The most widely known type of a random sample is the simple random
sample (SRS). This is characterized by the fact that the probability of
selection is the same for every case in the population. Simple random
sampling is a method of selecting n units from a population of size N such
that every possible sample of size an has equal chance of being drawn.
An example may make this easier to understand. Imagine you want to carry
out a survey of 100 voters in a small town with a population of 1,000 eligible
voters. With a town this size, there are "old-fashioned" ways to draw a
sample. For example, we could write the names of all voters on a piece of
paper, put all pieces of paper into a box and draw 100 tickets at random. You
shake the box, draw a piece of paper and set it aside, shake again, draw
another, set it aside, etc. until we had 100 slips of paper. These 100 form our
sample. And this sample would be drawn through a simple random sampling
procedure - at each draw, every name in the box had the same probability of
being chosen.
There are many reasons why one would choose a different type of probability
sample in practice.
Example 1
Suppose you were interested in investigating the link between the family of
origin and income and your particular interest is in comparing incomes of
Hispanic and Non-Hispanic respondents. For statistical reasons, you decide
that you need at least 1,000 non-Hispanics and 1,000 Hispanics. Hispanics
comprise around 6 or 7% of the population. If you take a simple random
sample of all races that would be large enough to get you 1,000 Hispanics,
the sample size would be near 15,000, which would be far more expensive
than a method that yields a sample of 2,000. One strategy that would be
more cost-effective would be to split the population into Hispanics and non-
Hispanics, then take a simple random sample within each portion (Hispanic
and non-Hispanic).
Example 2
Let's suppose your sampling frame is a large city's telephone book that has
2,000,000 entries. To take a SRS, you need to associate each entry with a
number and choose n= 200 numbers from N= 2,000,000. This could be quite
an ordeal. Instead, you decide to take a random start between 1 and N/n=
20,000 and then take every 20,000th name, etc. This is an example of
systematic sampling, a technique discussed more fully below.
Example 3
Suppose you wanted to study dance club and bar employees in NYC with a
sample of n = 600. Yet there is no list of these employees from which to draw
a simple random sample. Suppose you obtained a list of all bars/clubs in NYC.
One way to get this would be to randomly sample 300 bars and then
randomly sample 2 employees within each bars/club. This is an example of
cluster sampling. Here the unit of analysis (employee) is different from the
primary sampling unit (the bar/club).
In each of these three examples, a probability sample is drawn, yet none is
an example of simple random sampling. Each of these methods is described
in greater detail below.
Although simple random sampling is the ideal for social science and most of
the statistics used are based on assumptions of SRS, in practice, SRS are
rarely seen. It can be terribly inefficient, and particularly difficult when large
samples are needed. Other probability methods are more common. Yet SRS is
essential, both as a method and as an easy-to-understand method of
selecting a sample.
In this form of sampling, the population is first divided into two or more
mutually exclusive segments based on some categories of variables of
interest in the research. It is designed to organize the population into
homogenous subsets before sampling, then drawing a random sample within
each subset. With stratified random sampling the population of N units is
divided into subpopulations of units respectively. These subpopulations,
called strata, are non-overlapping and together they comprise the whole of
the population. When these have been determined, a sample is drawn from
each, with a separate draw for each of the different strata. The sample sizes
within the strata are denoted by respectively. If a SRS is taken within each
stratum, then the whole sampling procedure is described as stratified random
sampling.
The primary benefit of this method is to ensure that cases from smaller strata
of the population are included in sufficient numbers to allow comparison. An
example makes it easier to understand. Say that you're interested in how job
satisfaction varies by race among a group of employees at a firm. To explore
this issue, we need to create a sample of the employees of the firm.
However, the employee population at this particular firm is predominantly
white, as the following chart illustrates:
Racial Distribution of a Firm
Rather than taking a simple random sample from the firm's population at
large, in a stratified sampling design, we ensure that appropriate numbers of
elements are drawn from each racial group in proportion to the percentage of
the population as a whole. Say we want a sample of 1000 employees - we
would stratify the sample by race (group of White employees, group of
African American employees, etc.), then randomly draw out 750 employees
from the White group, 90 from the African American, 100 from the Asian, and
60 from the Latino. This yields a sample that is proportionately
representative of the firm as a whole.
Stratification is a common technique. There are many reasons for this, such
as:
Systematic Sampling
This method of sampling is at first glance very different from SRS. In practice,
it is a variant of simple random sampling that involves some listing of
elements - every nth element of list is then drawn for inclusion in the sample.
Say you have a list of 10,000 people and you want a sample of 1,000.
Select a random number between one and the value attained in Step 1. In
this example, we choose a number between 1 and 10 - say we pick 7.
Starting with case number chosen in Step 2, take every tenth record (7,
17, 27, etc.).
More generally, suppose that the N units in the population are ranked 1 to N
in some order (e.g., alphabetic). To select a sample of n units, we take a unit
at random, from the 1st k units and take every k-th unit thereafter.
Cluster Sampling
Survey Diagram
In general, for a given sample size n cluster samples are less accurate than
the other types of sampling in the sense that the parameters you estimate
will have greater variability than an SRS, stratified random or systematic
sample.
Nonprobability Sampling
Availability Sampling
The primary problem with availability sampling is that you can never be
certain what population the participants in the study represent. The
population is unknown, the method for selecting cases is haphazard, and the
cases studied probably don't represent any population you could come up
with.
However, there are some situations in which this kind of design has
advantages - for example, survey designers often want to have some people
respond to their survey before it is given out in the "real" research setting as
a way of making certain the questions make sense to respondents. For this
purpose, availability sampling is not a bad way to get a group to take a
survey, though in this case researchers care less about the specific responses
given than whether the instrument is confusing or makes people feel bad.
Despite the known flaws with this design, it's remarkably common. Ask a
provocative question, give telephone number and web site address ("Vote
now at CNN.com), announce results of poll. This method provides some form
of statistical data on a current issue, but it is entirely unknown what
population the results of such polls represents. At best, a researcher could
make some conditional statement about people who are watching CNN at a
particular point in time who cared enough about the issue in question to log
on or call in.
Quota Sampling
The primary problem with this form of sampling is that even when we know
that a quota sample is representative of the particular characteristics for
which quotas have been set, we have no way of knowing if sample is
representative in terms of any other characteristics. If we set quotas for
gender and age, we are likely to attain a sample with good
representativeness on age and gender, but one that may not be very
representative in terms of income and education or other factors.
Moreover, because researchers can set quotas for only a small fraction of the
characteristics relevant to a study quota sampling is really not much better
than availability sampling. To reiterate, you must know the characteristics of
the entire population to set quotas; otherwise there's not much point to
setting up quotas. Finally, interviewers often introduce bias when allowed to
self-select respondents, which is usually the case in this form of research. In
choosing males 18-25, interviewers are more likely to choose those that are
better-dressed, seem more approachable or less threatening. That may be
understandable from a practical point of view, but it introduces bias into
research findings.
Purposive Sampling
Snowball Sampling