SAMPLING FOR RESEARCH

SAMPLING IS A PROCESS THROUGH WHICH A RESEARCHER SELECTS A PORTION OF

SEGMENT FROM THE POPULATION AT THE CENTER OF THE RESEARCHER’S STUDY.THE
POPULATION IS A GROUP OF PERSONS OS OBJECTS THAT PROCESS SOME COMMON
CHARACTERISTIC THAT ARE OF INTEREST TO THE RESEARCHER, AND ABOUT WHICH THE
RESEARCHER SEEKS TO LEARN MORE.

THERE ARE TWO GROUPS OF POPULATION:

● THE TARGET POPULATION IS COMPOSED OF THE ENTIRE GROUP OF PEOPLE OR
OBJECTS TO WHICH THE RESEARCHER WISHES TO GENERALIZE THE FINDINGS OF
THE STUDY.
● THE ACCESSIBLE POPULATION IS A PORTION OF THE POPULATION TO WHICH THE
RESEARCHER HAS REASONABLE ACCESS.

THE INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANTS IN THE STUDY ARE OFTEN REFERRED TO AS SUBJECTS OR

RESPONDENTS.THE SUBJECTS ARE INDIVIDUALS OR ENTITIES WHICH SERVE AS THE FOCUS
OF THE STUDY. RESPONDENTS ARE INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS OF PEOPLE WHO ACTIVELY
SERVE AS SOURCE OF INFORMATION DURING DATA COLLECTION.THE SUBJECTS OF THE
STUDY MAY ALSO BE ITS RESPONDENTS, BUT THERE ARE ALSO TIMES THAT THESE
ARE TWO GROUPS OF DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS OR ENTITIES. SUBJECTS AND RESPONDENTS
MAY ALSO BE REFERRED TO AS ELEMENTS-PARTICULARLY IF SAID ELEMENTS ARE
OBJECTS,RATHER THAN PEOPLE.

A STATISTIC IS A NUMBER DESCRIBING A PROPERTY OF A SAMPLE, WHEREAS A PARAMETER

IS A NUMBER DESCRIBING A PROPERTY OF A POPULATION. A STATISTIC CAN BE USED TO
ESTIMATE THE PARAMETER IN WHAT IS CALLED A STATISTICAL INFERENCE.

IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE RESEARCHER TO USED AN ACCEPTABLE SAMPLE SIZE TO ENSURE

THAT THEIR STUDY WILL BE ACCURATE. GENERALLY, THE LARGER THE SAMPLE,THE MORE
RELIABLE RESULTS OF THE STUDY WILL BE.HENCE, IT IS ADVISABLE TO HAVE A SAMPLE
LARGE ENOUGH TO YIELD RELIABLE RESULTS, YET SMALL ENOUGH TO BE MANAGEABLE
WITHIN THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE STUDY.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN DETERMINING THE SAMPLE SIZE

1. HOMOGENEITY OF THE POPULATION. THE HIGHER THE DEGREE OF HOMOGENEITY OF

THE POPULATION,THE SMALLER THE SAMPLE SIZE THAT CAN BE UTILIZED.
2. DEGREE OF PRECISION DESIRED BY THE RESEARCHER.THE LARGER THE THE SAMPLE
SIZE, THE HIGHER THE PRECISION OR ACCURACY OF T HE RESULTS WILL BE.
3. TYPES OF SAMPLING PROCEDURE.PROBABILITY SAMPLING USES SMALLER SAMPLE
SIZES THAT NON- PROBABILITY SAMPLING.

VARIOUS APPROACHES TO DETERMINING THE SAMPLE SIZE

 1. SAMPLE SIZES AS SMALL AS 30 ARE GENERALLY ADEQUATE TO ENSURE THAT THE
SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE MEAN WILL APPROXIMATE THE NORMAL CURVE
(SHOTT,1990).
2. WHEN THE TOTAL POPULATION IS EQUAL TO OR LESS THAN 100, THIS SAME NUMBER
MAY SERVE AS THE SAMPLE SIZE.THIS IS CALLED UNIVERSAL SAMPLING.
3. SLOVIN’S FORMULA IS USED TO COMPUTE FOR SAMPLE SIZE(SEVILLA,2003).

N
n= —----------
1+Ne2

WHERE: n= A SAMPLE SIZE

N= POPULATION SIZE
e= DESIRED MARGIN OF ERROR

4. ACCORDING TO GAY (1976), THE FOLLOWING ARE THE ACCEPTABLE SIZES FOR
DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESEARCH:

A. DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH - 10% TO 20% MAY BE REQUIRED

B. COMPARATIVE RESEARCH - 15 SUBJECTS OR GROUPS.
5. BY USING CALMORIN’S FORMULA, THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED AS FOLLOWS:

NV+[ Ss2 +(1-p)]

Ss= —------------------------
NSe+[V2 +(1-p)]

WHERE: Ss= SAMPLE SIZE

N= POPULATION SIZE
V= STANDARD VALUE (2.58) OF 1% LEVEL OF PROBABILITY WITH 99%
RELIABILITY
Se= SAMPLING ERROR
p= THE LARGEST POSSIBLE PROPORTION

TYPES AND SUBTYPES OF SAMPLING

IN THE BOOK, NURSING RESEARCH:PRINCIPLES AND METHODS ,POLTI AND BECK (2004)
LIST THE DIFFERENT TYPES AND SUBTYPES OF SAMPLING:
1. PROBABILITY SAMPLING IS A TYPE OF SAMPLING IN WHIV=CH ALL THE MEMBERS OF
AN ENTIRE POPULATION HAVE A CHANCE OF BEING SELECTED. THIS IS ALSO CALLED
SCIENTIFIC SAMPLING.
A. SIMPLE RANDOM SAMPLING IS A METHOD OF CHOOSING SAMPLES IN WHICH
ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE POPULATION ARE GIVEN AN EQUAL CHANCE OF
BEING SELECTED. IT IS AN UNBIASED WAY OF SELECTION, AS SAMPLES ARE
DRAWN BY CHANCE. THERE ARE VARIOUS WAYS OF OBTAINING SAMPLES
THROUGH SIMPLE RANDOM SAMPLING (TREECE & TREECE,1986).THESE
INCLUDE THE ROULETTE WHEEL,FISHBOWL METHOD, AND THE USE OF A TABLE
OF RANDOM NUMBERS.
 THE FISHBOWL METHOD OBSERVES THE FOLLOWING STEPS:

I. THE SAMPLING FRAME, OR A LIST OF ALL THE SUBJECTS OR ELEMENTS IN THE

POPULATION IN QUESTION, SHOULD BE PREPARED.
II. ALL THE NAMES OF THE SUBJECTS OR ELEMENTS SHOULD BE WRITTEN DOWN
ON STRIPS OF PAPER( one name per strip of paper).
III. THE STRIPS OF PAPER WITH THE LISTED NAMES ARE THEN PLACED IN A BOWL
OR CONTAINER.
IV. SAMPLES CAN BE DRAWN AS DESIRED.

A MORE SYSTEMATIC PROCEDURE FOR RANDOM SELECTING SAMPLES IS THE

USE OF A TABLE OF RANDOM NUMBERS(SEE FIGURE 14.2). THIS TABLE IS LIST
OF NUMBERS THAT HAVE BEEN GENERATED IN SUCH A MANNER THAT THERE
IS NO ORDER OR SEQUENCING OF NUMBERS. THIS TABLE CAN BE GENERATED
BY A COMPUTER. THESE RANDOM NUMBERS CAN HAVE AB=NY NUMBER OF
DIGITS AND ARE DEPENDENT ON THE SIZE OF THE POPULATION.

USING A TABLE OF RANDOM NUMBERS ENTAILS THE FOLLOWING STEPS:

I. A NUMBER SHOULD BE ASSIGNED TO EACH ELEMENT OF THE ACCESSIBLE

POPULATION.
II. THE TABLE OF RANDOM NUMBERS SHOULD BE ENTERED AT AN ARBITRARY OR
RANDOM STARTING POINT.THIS CAN BE DONE BY CLOSING ONE’S EYES AND USING A
PEN TO POINT AT A NUMBER.
III. A SYSTEMATIC MOVEMENT SHOULD BE FOLLOWED FOR GOING UP OR DOWN, LEFT OR
RIGHT, OR DIAGONALLY.THE DIRECTION IS NOT IMPORTANT BUT SHOULD BE DECIDED
BEFORE STARTING THE PROCESS. THIS DIRECTION SHALL CONTINUE UNTIL THE
TOTAL SAMPLE IS SELECTED.
IV. CONTINUE TO SELECT NUMBERS UNTIL THE DESIRED SAMPLE IS REACHED.

B. IN STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLING, THE POPULATION IS FIRST DIVIDED INTO DIFFERENT

STRATA, AND THEN THE SAMPLING FOLLOWS. AGE, GENDER, AND EDUCATIONAL
QUALIFICATIONS ARE SOME POSSIBLE CRITERIA USED TO DIVIDE A POPULATION INTO
STRATA.

C. CLUSTER SAMPLING IS USED IN LARGE-SCALE STUDIES, WHERE THE POPULATION IS

GEOGRAPHICALLY SPREAD OUT. SAMPLING PROCEDURES MAY BE DIFFICULT AND TIME
CONSUMING.

D. SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING IS A METHOD OF SELECTING EVERY NTH ELEMENT OF A

POPULATION, E.G, EVERY FIFTH, EIGHTH.NINTH, OR ELEVENTH ELEMENT UNTIL THE DESIRED
SAMPLE SIZE IS REACHED.

2. NON - PROBABILITY SAMPLING. IT IS A PROCESS OF SELECTING RESPONDENTS IN WHICH

NOT ALL MEMBERS OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION ARE GIVEN A CHANCE OF BEING SELECTED
AS SAMPLES. THERE ARE CASES THAT CERTAIN SEGMENTS OF A POPULATION ARE GIVEN
PRIORITY OVER OTHERS, SUCH AS WHEN A RESEARCHER DOES NOT INTEND TO GENERALIZE
TO A LARGER POPULATION. THIS IS ALSO CALLED NON-SCIENTIFIC SAMPLING, AND IS
COMMONLY USED IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH.
A. CONVENIENCE SAMPLING.IT IS ALSO CALLED ACCIDENTAL OR INCIDENTAL SAMPLING.

EXAMPLE:
A RESEARCHER INTENDS TO STUDY THE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS OF A
PARTICULAR SCHOOL, AND HAS DETERMINED THE DESIRED SAMPLE SIZE.DUE TO THE
STUDY’S CONSTRAINTS, THE ELEMENTARY PUPILS WHO ARE PRESENT AT THE TIME IF THE
RESEARCHER’S VISIT TO THE SCHOOL WILL BE CHOSEN AS RESPONDENTS.

B.QUOTA SAMPLING IS SOMEWHAT SIMILAR TO STRATIFIED SAMPLING, IN THAT THE

POPULATION IS DIVIDED INTO STRATA, AND THE RESEARCHER DELIBERATELY SETS SPECIFIC
PROPORTIONS IN THE SAMPLE, WHETHER OR NOT THE RESULTING PROPORTION IS THE
REFLECTIVE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION.THIS IS COMMONLY DONE TO ENSURE THE
INCLUSION OF A PARTICULAR SEGMENT OF THE POPULATION.

EXAMPLE:
A RESEARCHER WANTS TO SURVEY THE EMPLOYEES OF A COMPANY REGARDING
THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE COMPANY’S NEW POLICIES.THE RESEARCHER INTENDS TO HAVE
REPRESENTATIVES FROM ALL DEPARTMENTS IN HIS SAMPLE, BUT ONE DEPARTMENT IS SO
SMALL THAT DOING RANDOM SAMPLING MIGHT RESULT IN THAT DEPARTMENT NOT BEING
REPRESENTED. THE RESEARCHER THEN SETS A QUOTA OF RESPONDENT FROM THAT
DEPARTMENT TO ENSURE THEIR INCLUSION IN THE SAMPLE.

C. PURPOSIVE SAMPLING INVOLVES HANDPICKING SUBJECTS, USUALLY TO SUIT VERY

SPECIFIC INTENTIONS.THIS IS ALSO CALLED JUDGEMENTAL SAMPLING.

EXAMPLE:
IN A STUDY ABOUT HONOR STUDENTS, THE RESEARCHER USES A LIST OF HONOR
STUDENTS AND CHOOSES THE NECESSARY NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS, TO THE EXCLUSION
OF ALL OTHER STUDENTS.

IN SELECTING THE SAMPLE IF A STUDY,THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS MUST BE PROPERLY

DISCUSSED: THE TOTAL POPULATION AND ITS PARAMETERS; THE SAMPLE AND STATISTICS;
THE SAMPLING METHOD WITH REFERENCES TO SUPPORT IT; AN EXPLANATION AND
DISCUSSION OF THE SAMPLING METHOD; AN EXPLANATION OF HOW THE SAMPLING IS DONE;
AN ENUMERATION OF THE QUALIFYING CRITERIA; AND THE PROFILES OF THE SUBJECT
AND/OR RESPONDENTS.