Business Research

Non-Probability Sampling Methods

Methods of non-probability sampling are listed
as follows:
1. Convenience sampling
2. Judgment sampling
3. Quota sampling
4. Snowball sampling
Convenience sampling
This is a non-probability sampling method in
which the interviewers will decide the choice of
sampling units based on their convenience.
In most of the situations, the following may be
true:
Many respondents will refuse to fill the questionnaires.
Some respondents will not cooperate in filling the
questionnaires
So, naturally, the interviewers will be resorted to
convenience sampling to overcome such
difficulties. The sampling units for this type of
sampling are selected from a telephone directory,
newspaper subscribers list, departmental stores,
etc.
Judgement Sampling
The judgment sampling is a non-probability sampling in
which the sampling units are selected on the advice
of some expert or by the intuition/ opinion of the
researcher himself. In the first case, an expert who is
familiar with the sampling frame guides, the
researchers in selecting the sampling units from the
sampling frame. In the second case, the researcher
applies his/ her intuitive judgement and previous
experience in selecting the sampling units from the
sampling frame
Quota Sampling
The quota sampling is a non-probability sampling in
which the population is classifies into a number of
groups based on some criterion, say age of the
members of population, viz. old age, middle age and
young age. Later, while selecting the required
number of sampling units from each category, one
can use any one of the other non-probability
sampling methods, viz, convenience sampling or
judgement sampling.
Snowball sampling
The snowball sampling is a restrictive multi-stage
sampling in which initially certain number of
sampling units (respondents) are randomly selected.
Later, additional sampling units are selected based
on referral process. This means that the initially
selected respondents provide addresses of additional
respondents for the interviewers.
This is an inexpensive and convenient non-probability
sampling method which suits the situations where
the development of sampling frame is a difficult and
time-consuming task.
Contd.
Simple random sampling without replacement: in this method of
sampling, each unit of the population has a varying probability of
being selected as an unit of sample given by the following formula:

The probability of selection of the first unit = 1/N

The probability of selection of the second unit = 1/ N-1

.
.
.

The Probability of selection of the nth unit = 1/ N (n-1)
Systematic sampling
This is a special king of random sampling in which the selection of the first unit of the sample from the
population is based on randomisation. The remaining units of the sample are selected from the population
at a fixed interval of n, where n is the sample size.
Let the size of the population (N) be 800 and the sample size (n) be 40. the units of the sampling frame are
divided into n number of intervals based on the ratio of N/n, as shown below
Sampling interval width, I = N/n = 800/40=20
The sampling frame consist of units with serial numbers from 1 to 800. this range is divided into 40
intervals, viz., 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, .., 760-780, 781 800, where the total number of intervals is equal to
the sample size.
Then a number from the first interval 1-20 is selected randomly and the unit of the population with this
serial number is treated as the unit of the sample. Let the randomly selected unit from the first interval of
the population be 12. then, the second unit of the sample is the unit in the population with serial number
32 which is obtained by adding 20 (sampling interval with, I) to 12. then each of the reaming units of the
sample can be obtained from the population in the same manner by adding 20 to the serial number of the
previous unit selected from the population.
As per these guidelines, the units of the population with serial numbers 52, 72, 92, , 772 and 792 are
treated as the third, fourth , fifth, . 30
th
and 40
th
units of the sample respectively
Stratified sampling
Stratified sampling is an improvised sampling
over random and systematic sampling. This
sampling will have more statistical efficiency.
In this sampling method, the population is
divided into a specified set of strata such that
the members within each stratum have similar
attributes but the members between strata
have dissimilar attributes. This means that
each stratum is homogeneous when
compared to the population.
Example (Stratified Sampling)
A survey is conducted to analyse the status of employment of the recently graduated batch of
students of a premier technological university. It is planned to conduct stratified sampling for this
study. So, the population which consists of different colleges is divided into three strata viz.
government colleges, aided colleges and self-financing colleges. Since, the regulations of AICTE
and the respective university ensure uniform standard of infrastructure and educational
standards, proportional stratified sampling is used for this study. The total number of engineering
colleges in the university is 200. the number of engineering colleges in the three categories, viz.
government, aided and self-financing are 20, 50 and 130, respectively. If the sample size is 20,
determine the number of colleges to be sampled from each category.
Cluster Sampling
Cluster sampling is a sampling technique in which the population
is divided into different clusters such that the members within
each cluster are dissimilar (heterogenous) in terms of their
attributes, but different clusters are similar to each other. This
lead to the inference that each cluster can be treated as a
small population which posses all the attributes of the
population. Hence, in cluster sampling, any one of the clusters
is randomly selected and all the units of that cluster are
selected (sampled) to arrive at inference about the
population.
Multi-stage sampling
In a large scale survey covering the entire nation/ subcontinent,
the size of the sampling frame will be too large which leads to
more time and cost of the study. In such study, multi-stage
sampling technique helps designing a smaller sampling frame
which will make the study practicable in terms of cost and
time.
The multi-stage sampling employs more than one stage to
sample the population depending upon the reality.
Consider the case of studying the requirement of chemical
laboratory equipments in all the colleges in a country by
CHEMEQUIP LTD. This study can be done using multi-stage
sampling, as explained in the next slide.
Contd..
Stage 1: In the first stage, the different states of the country are
sampled from each region using stratified sampling. The
country can be divided into different regions (strata), viz. east,
west, north and south. Here, it is assumed that the states
(sampling units) within each regions are dissimilar.
Stage 2: After selecting some states from each region in stage-I
based on the particulars of the stratified sampling, again one
can use cluster sampling to identify a district from each
selected state by assuming different districts of each state as
its clusters. Here, it is assumed that the districts of a state are
similar, but the colleges in each district are dissimilar in terms
of their present chemical laboratory facilities.
Contd..
Stage 3: In each selected district, a random sampling
may be used to select the proportionate number of
colleges (sampling units) from it.
This study involves three stages of sampling. The
highest level of sampling units are states and the
lowest level of sampling units are colleges. From this
example, one can visualize the fact that the multi-
stage sampling reduces the size of the overall
sampling frame.