Non-probability sampling

Purposive sampling

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Sampling:
▪ It is fundamentally a particular gathering of
individuals from whom scientist will gather
information.
TYPES OF SAMPLING:
There are two types of sampling:
1: Probability sampling
2: Non-probability sampling

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Non-Probability
Sampling:
▪ Non random selection based on conveniance
of other criteria allowing you to easily
collect initial data.
▪ Easier and cheapier sampling to access.
▪ Appropriate for exploratory and Qualitative
Research.
▪ Aims to develop an initial understanding of
small or under researched population.

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 Purposive Sampling:
▪ It is also known as judgmental sampling.
▪ Valuable for special situations.
▪ Used in exploratory research or field research.
▪ An expert judges in selecting cases or select cases with a
specific purpose in mind.
▪ In this sampling cases that are selected rarely represent the
entire population.
▪ This sampling is appropriate to select unique cases that are
especially informative.
▪ This sampling is used to identify particular types of cases in
dept investigation to gain deeper understanding of types.

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 Examples of purposive sampling:
In her study Inside Organized Racism, Kathleen Blee used
purposive sampling to study women who belong to racist hate
organizations. The purpose of her study was to learn why and how
women became actively involved in racist hate organizations (e.g.,
neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan). She wanted “to create a broadly based,
national sample of women racist group members”. A probability
sample was not possible because no list of all organizations exists
and the organizations keep membership lists secret.
You want to know more about the opinions and experiences of
disabled students at your university, so you purposefully select a
number of students with different support needs in order to gather
a varied range of data on their experiences with student services 6
 Advantages of Purposive Sampling

o It helps researcher to save time and money while

collecting data.
o It not only involves multiple phases for researchers
but can have each phase build upon the previous
one. The classic example of this advantage is that
critical sample can be useful in determining the
value of an investigation while expert sampling
approach allows for an indept analysis of the
information that is present.
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 Disadvantages of purposive sampling:

 The participant’s in this sampling can also manipulate the

data being collected. When people get to know they are
selected for a research project they change their behavior.
Only researchers can determine with their skills that is
there validity in the data collected which means there is a
time when the outcome being studied could be more
unpredictable than anticipated.
 It can be an ineffective method when applied to large
population groups. You must go to people with specific
traits that you wish to analyze for this research method to
be useful If this is not possible purposive sampling will
not provide results at all. 8
Alina Javaid-1526

• Definition
• Examples
• Advantages
• Disadvantages
 CONVENIENCE SAMPLING
Second main type of Non-probability sampling
Convenience sampling also known as
• Availability sampling.
• Haphazard Sampling.
• Accidental sampling.

This sampling method involves getting participants wherever you can find them
and typically wherever is convenient.
In convenience sampling,
• No inclusion criteria identified prior to the selection of subjects. 
• All subjects are invited to participate.

Convenience sampling is choosing a sample based on

Five Main Components:
• Availability
• Time
• Location
• Ease of access
• willingness to respond
EXAMPLES OF
CONVENIENCE SAMPLING

NEWSPAPER person-on-the-street
FACEBOOK POLLS
QUESTIONNAIRE interview
Call-in Survey:

Call-in survey with a question concerning whether the United Nations (UN) headquarters should remain in the United
States.
Another survey research study involving about 500 randomly selected respondents also asked the same question. Of the
186,000 callers who responded, a solid majority (67%) wanted the UN out of the United States. Of the 500 respondents
to the survey research study, a clear majority (72%) wanted the UN to stay in the United States.
 Advantages and Disadvantages of
Convenience sampling

Quick Collection of Data weakest of all sampling procedures

Cost effectiveness Biased Results: Highly vulnerable to

selection bias and influences. It might be
biased by volunteers.(can be reduced or
Ease of Research eliminated by including probability
sampling).
Ready Availability of the Sample
A convenience sample can lead to the
Fewer rules to follow under-representation or over-
representation.
Useful for Pilot studies
Yields a non- representative sample

Convenience sampling have little

credibility
Outline
• Definition of quota
sampling
• Types
• Performance
• Characteristics
• Advantage and
disadvantage
• Application
• Conclusion
Definition of quota sampling

• Quota sampling is defined as a non-probability sampling method in

which researchers create a sample involving individuals that represent
a population.
• For example, a cigarette company wants to find out what age group
prefers what brand of cigarettes in a particular city. He/she applies
quotas on the age groups of 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, and 51+. From this
information, the researcher gauges the smoking trend among the
population of the city.
Types of quota sampling:

• Controlled quota sampling:

• Controlled quota sampling imposes restrictions on the researcher’s choice
of samples. Here, the researcher is limited to the selection of samples.

• Uncontrolled quota sampling:

• Uncontrolled quota sampling does not impose any restrictions on the
researcher’s choice of samples. Here, the researcher chooses sample
members at will.
How to perform quota sampling:

• Divide the sample population into subgroups: The researcher divide

the sample into subgroups. Here, the researcher applies random
selection.
• Figure out the weightage of subgroups: The researcher evaluates the
proportion in which the subgroups exist in the population.
• Select an appropriate sample size: In the third step, the researcher
should select the sample size while maintaining the proportion
evaluated in the previous step
• Conduct surveys according to the quotas defined: Make sure to stick
to the predefined quotas to achieve actual actionable results.
Characteristics of quota sampling
• The purpose of quota sampling is to get the best representation of
respondents in the final sample.
• Quotas replicate the population of interest in a real sense.
• The estimates produced are more representative.
• The quality of quota samples varies.
• Saves research data collection time as the sample represents the
population.
• Saves research costs if the quotas accurately represent the
population.
• It monitors the number of types of individuals who take the survey.
• The researcher always divides the population into subgroups.
• The sample represents the entire population.
• Researchers use the sampling method to identify the traits of a
specific group of people.
Advantages of quota sampling
• Saves time

• Research convenience

• Accurate representation of
the population of interest

• Saves money
Disadvantage of quota sampling
• Not as representative of
the population as a
whole as other sampling
methods.

• Sample is non random it

is impossible to assess
the possible sampling
error.
Applications of quota sampling:
• In situations where researchers
have specific criteria for
conducting research, it allows
the selection of subgroups.
• The researcher uses this method
when he/she has time
constraints.
• Quotas are applied when the
researcher is on a tight budget.
• Some research studies do not
require pinpoint accuracy due to
the nature of the research
project.
Conclusion
• We have discussed sampling quota as non probability sampling
method . We have discussed its types characteristics advantage and
disadvantage characteristics and application. In this method
researcher set a quota for sampling. This method is useful for
research.
• Reference:
https://www.questionpro.com/blog/quota-sampling/amp/
Snowball
Sampling
Outline

What is snowball Where to Use Snowball

01 sampling ?
02 Sampling?

03 Types of Snowball
Sampling 04 Advantages and
disadavatages
What is snowball sampling ?

Definition: The Snowball Sampling is a non-random sampling technique wherein the

initial informants are approached who through their social network nominate or refer
the participants that meet the eligibility criteria of the research under study. Thus, this
method is also called as the referral sampling method or chain sampling method.

The snowball sampling method is extensively used in the situations when the
population is unknown and rare, and it is hard to select the subjects therefrom. First-
of-all the initial informants (acquaintances) are contacted who further give the
reference of other people whom they think will fit best for the research study, and
then they are contacted to get the insights and knowledge about the research being
conducted.
What is snowball sampling ?

For example, the group of people suffering from AIDS is limited and often reluctant to
disclose their disease. And in such case, if the interviewer wants to know how the life of
these people have changed due to AIDS, might approach those acquaintances who can refer
those individuals who can potentially contribute to the study.
• In snowball sampling, the initial subject gives a link to other subject and
likewise the chain of respondents gets created. Hence, the success of this
method depends purely on the initial subject which gives further references.
• This referral technique goes on and on, increasing the size of the respondent
population like a snowball rolling down a hill until the researcher has
sufficient data to analyze. Snowball sampling is also called chain referral
sampling.
Where to Use Snowball Sampling?
Some of cases are
 there is no obvious list of the population of
interest: homeless people, members of an elite
golf club

 difficulty to locate subjects: people suffering

from rare diseases 

 less willingness to identify themselves due to

social stigma: prostitutes, victims of sexual
assault, gay, bisexual or transgender people

 secretiveness or illegality of the organization:

terrorist’s, hackers, religious extremists
Types of Snowball Sampling

• Each individual participant recommends exactly one other

Linear Snowball Sampling
participant, so that the sample grows at a linear pace.

Exponential Non-Discriminative • Every participant invites two or more individuals, so that the
Snowball Sampling more people participate in the study, the faster it will grow.

Exponential discriminative • Subject refers multiple people but only one is chosen as
Snowball Sampling sample.
Process
Application of snowball sampling involves the following stages:
1.Establish a contact with one or two initial cases from the
sampling frame. This stage is usually the most difficult one.
2.Request the initial cases to identify more cases
3.Ask new cases to identify further cases (and so on)
4.Stop when:
5.a) Your pre-specified sample size has been completed;
6.b) There are no further cases left;
7.c) Pursuing further cases will make the project unmanageable due
to the large size.
 • Referral system helps find samples quickly
 
Since you may not have exhaustive list of the population for your study, the referral
system helps to a great extent to get appropriate samples quickly at conveniently low
cost. For instance, it can be too difficult to trace out those persons who go to brothels
regularly or those who use narcotic drugs or those who are prostitutes, but the referral
system helps minimizing the problem.

Advanta  
• Works for hesitant subjects

ges  
Some persons do not want to come forward in public researches due to their need for
confidentiality. Drug users, prostitutes, brothel goers, spies may not be willing to reveal
their identity if you ask them in public if they are so. Snowball Sampling helps for this
situation as this system asks to those who are familiar with the potential samples.
 
• Low cost solution
 
This sampling technique can be implemented with little workforce and without a lot of
planning, making it cost and time efficient compared to other methods.
 • Peer network might not exist

If there is a communication gap among the population, the whole process gets halted. For
Example, Drugs users at their initial stage might not be interacting with other drug users
Disadvant around them and thus might not be able to nominate anyone.
ages
• Potential sampling bias

The method is liable to various forms of sampling bias. People associate with and
nominate their peers who share very similar traits. This means that the researcher might
only be able to reach out to a small section of the population.
References
Devkota, B. R. (2020). Snowball Sampling.
https://www.netquest.com/blog/en/snowball-sampling

Dudovskiy, J. (n.d.). Snowball sampling.

https://research-methodology.net/sampling-in-primary-data-collection/
snowball-sampling/

Ochoa, C. (2017). Non-random sampling: snowball sampling.

https://www.mathstopia.net/sampling/snowball-sampling