28/04/2015

APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCE

RESEARCH METHODS

Instructor:
Dr. Z.S. Masanyiwa

Department of Development Finance

and Management Studies

Module overview
• Social science research concepts
• Approaches to scientific Research
• Research planning
• Proposal structure
• Literature review
• Research designs
• Sampling
• Data collection methods and tools
• Measurements and scaling in social sciences research
• Data processing, analysis and presentation
• Research findings/results interpretation and reporting

1
 28/04/2015

SAMPLING

Topic outline
• Sampling concepts
• Rationale of sampling
• Principles of sampling
• Sampling techniques

• Reading text
– Kumar, R. (2005). Research Methodology. A
Step-by-Step Guide For Beginners (Chapter 12)
4

2
 28/04/2015

Sampling concepts
• Population
• Sample
• Sampling
• Sampling frame
• Sample size
• Sampling unit

What is a population?
• The total number of subjects to be studied in a
certain area
• An entire group of individuals, events or objects
having common observable characteristics
• The group of subjects from which you intend to
obtain information to find answers to your
research questions, e.g.
– All patients suffering from HIV/AIDS in the community
– All students in a school or college
– All indigenous trees in a particular forest
• Study population is denoted by N

3
 28/04/2015

What is a sample?
• A small group of the study population from
which you collect the information
• It is a representative group of the study
population
• Members in the sample are referred to as a
subjects or respondents

What is sampling?
• The process of selecting few individuals or subjects to
take part in the study to represent the large group or
study population

• Selection of few members or a fraction of the study

population to become the basis for estimating or
predicting the prevalence of unknown information
regarding the bigger group

• Sampling is done because collecting data from every

subject of the study population is sometimes
impossible and expensive

4
 28/04/2015

Sampling frame, sample size and sampling unit

• Sampling frame: list of study units e.g.
– Number of households in a village
– Total number of employees in an organisations
– Total number students in a college, school etc

• Sample size: the total number of selected

subjects to take part in the study, denoted by n

• Sampling unit: a unit of reference, reporting or

analysis e.g. individual, household, hamlet,
school, plot, group, ward or district etc

Rationale of sampling
• In most studies, it is impossible and expensive to
collect data from every subject in the population
– Therefore, sampling is done to save human, financial
and time resources which are always scarce
• Provide accurate estimates of unknown value of
parameters from sample statistics that can be
easily calculated
• Achieve maximum precision in estimates within
a given sample size
• Avoid bias in the selection of the sample

5
 28/04/2015

Principles of sampling
Principle 1: Sample must be representative
• It must reflect the condition of population from which it
has been drawn.
– E.g. For a population of 1000 (400 males and 600
females), ensure that both groups are represented
– If the sample size is 50%, 200 should be males and 300
females
Principle 2: Subjects must be selected appropriately using
appropriate methods
Principle 3: Sample must be large enough for meaningful
analysis and generalisation. The larger the sample size,
the more accurate will be the estimate of the
population

Sampling methods
or
techniques

6
 28/04/2015

Probability sampling methods

• Every subject in the study population has an equal and
independent chance or probability of being selected or
included in the sample
• Equal chance means
– same probability of selection of each element or
subject in the population
– choice of one element is not influenced by other
considerations
• Independent chance means
– choice of one element is not dependent on another
element
– Selection or rejection of one element does not affect
the inclusion or exclusion of another

Probability sampling methods…

•Simple random sampling
•Systematic sampling
•Stratified sampling
•Cluster sampling
•Multistage sampling

7
 28/04/2015

Simple Random sampling (SRS)

• Simplest of all the probability sampling methods
where lottery or table of random numbers are
used in selecting respondents
• Procedure
– Define the population and obtain sampling frame
e.g. list of villages, schools, districts, individuals in
a village, etc.
– Give each case a unique number starting with zero
(0) or one (1) i.e. from 0/1 to Nth.
– Decide and describe the sample size (n)
– Select the sample (n) using fishbowl, table of
random numbers or a computer program

Simple random sampling (SRS)…

Advantages of SRS
• Subjects are selected objectively
• No opportunity for human bias
• Selection does not depend on subjects availability i.e.
one does not have to walk in the interviewees’
proximity to be included in the sample
• Selection is done without subjects knowledge

Disadvantages of SRS:
• The method is tedious
• It requires good sampling frame.

8
 28/04/2015

Systematic sampling (SS)

• Subjects are selected systematically at a fixed interval
directly from the sampling frame, after every nth term.
e.g. 5th person, 10th person etc.

• The starting point is selected randomly

• Procedure for SS
– Create a sampling frame
– Obtain sampling interval, which is given by:
Sampling Interval (SI) = Total Population
Sample size

Systematic sampling…
• For example, if the sampling frame is 2,000 persons,
and sample size is 200.
SI = 2000
200
= 10
• Select a starting point randomly between 1 – 10 and
make sure that the starting point is not more than the
interval
• Choose the value/subject after every nth number (i.e.
10). e.g. say starting point is 2, next subject will be
12, followed by 22, 32, etc Until you get 200 subjects

9
 28/04/2015

Systematic sampling…
Advantage of SS
• Subjects are selected objectively when the technique is
accurately applied

Disadvantages of SS
• It is tedious to use it
• There is risk of bias especially when sampling method
follow a particular system

Stratified Sampling
• Used when the study population is heterogeneous, but
can be grouped into certain homogeneous categories
or strata
• Involves grouping of subjects into homogeneous
categories or strata ensure each category is
represented in the sample
• Example
– by location (rural or urban), campus A and
campus
– by sex (male or female)
– by educ. level (primary, secondary, tertiary)
– by income (high or low; rich or poor etc)

10
 28/04/2015

Stratified sampling…
• After stratifying the population, simple random
sampling or systematic sampling is used to select
the sample
Advantage
• The technique ensures that resulting sample is
distributed in the same way as the population by
stratification
Disadvantages
• Can be applied only when units of strata can be
identified and allocated
• Using more than one criterion for stratification makes
the sampling exercise tedious
• It is feasible only when relevant information is
available

Cluster Sampling
• Used where the study population is large and scattered
• Based on the ability of the researcher to divide study
population into groups or clusters
• Examples: villages, divisions, schools, instead of a list of
subjects or households
• Sample selection within each cluster is then done using
simple random sampling or systematic sampling
Advantage
• Simple to apply as it is easy to block the population
by physical or geographical location.
Disadvantage
• Tedious if there are many clusters

11
 28/04/2015

Multistage sampling
• Involves use of several sampling methods at
different stages at different levels
• For example, you want to study an issue of your
choice in an entire country like Tanzania
• 1st stage: decide and choose 5 regions out of 26
randomly for a study using simple random or
systematic sampling method.
• Decide the sample size, say 3000 households
• 2nd stage: Decide and pick randomly say one district
in every selected region
• 3rd stage: You may decide to take one ward in
every district

Multistage sampling…
• If there are 5 wards then take 120 subjects from every
ward (600/5 =120)

• 4th stage: from the wards get the villages

• If there are 4 villages in every ward, take 30 subjects

from every village (120/4 = 30)

• If there are 6 hamlets take 5 subjects from each hamlet

(30/6 = 5); where now you can get the list of them
(sampling frame)

12
 28/04/2015

Non–probability sampling methods

• Do not follow probability theory
• Used when the number of elements in the study
population is either not known or can not be
individually identified

• Five main non-probability sampling methods

– Quota sampling
– Convenience or accidental sampling
– Judgemental or purposive sampling
– Chunk sampling
– Snowball sampling

Convenience or accidental sampling

• In this method subjects are selected for
convenience reasons,
• That is, subjects are included in a sample by
virtual of their accessibility
• E.g. all those who happen to be available are
included in the study
• This technique is commonly used when testing
tools (pilot study) like questionnaires
• Is also used where there are possibilities of
having less subjects, for example all men in clinic
during clinic day

13
 28/04/2015

Convenience or accidental sampling

Advantages
• Easy and cheap to apply
• Quick
• Very convenient one

Limitations
• The sample can be unrepresentative
• One can not know the extent of biasness of sample
• It is impossible to generalize the findings because it is
not known what population the sample represents

Quota sampling / proportionate

sampling
• It aims at producing a sample that reflects a
population in terms of relative proportions of
people in different categories
• For example gender, ethnicity, age groups,
social economic groups, place of residence etc.
• A representative sample is selected randomly or
non-randomly
• It is claimed by some practitioners to be as good
as probability sampling

14
 28/04/2015

• Example: Say Changarawe University with 500

students residing in different hostels
A-Centre 50%
B- Centre 40%
C- Centre 10%
• If the sample size is 100 students out of 500:
The quota sample representation will be as
follows:
A-centre 50 subjects
B- Centre 40 subjects
C- Centre 10 subjects

Judgemental / Purposive Sampling

• Involves making planned selection of
respondents / areas included in the study
• The subjects / areas are believed to be typical
representative and suitable in the study
For example; Persistence of cholera outbreak in
Dar es Salaam.
• Which district is a typical representative?
• Which division or village or street is the typical
representative?
• When you identify such areas or subjects make
your sample

15
 28/04/2015

Chunk Sampling
• Chunk sampling usually is employed by
journalists/media people.
• They go in the streets or an area with an
interested issue and ask people about the
interested problem/issue.
• Such as waste management, particular football
match, expected winner for presidency post,
or any other issue /event.
• Then they record the information prior to
processing and disseminating.

Referral sampling (snow ball sampling)

• Is a form of convenience sampling but each of
the selected subjects is asked to give address or
contact other people with similar condition or
facing similar problem
• That is, the researcher makes initial contacts with
a small group of people relevant to a study and
uses them to establish contacts with others
• Example: HIV&AIDS Victims, homosexuals,
victims of rape, robberies, drug abusers and so
forth
• To sample them you just need to know one and
ask him/her to show others

16
 28/04/2015

• Major weaknesses for this method are that, the

sample is not representative, and it is difficult
to generalize the results.
• Thus ,is more suitable for qualitative studies
only.

Conclusion
• These are just some of the most useful sampling
methods.
• Each has strengths and weaknesses, it is
important that you identify them.
• Researchers are required to state which one(s)
will be used and why?

START SAMPLING !

17
 28/04/2015

Thanks

for your

Attention

18