Discussion Week 6B

What is your population of interest?

African American adult health care employees with obesity. Employees must work an
average of 40 hours a week, and work within a inpatient/hospital setting.
What is your sampling frame?
My sampling frame will include all obese African Americans. I will identify potential
participants by working with hospitals within the UPMC network.
How will you draw/select participants from your sampling frame?
Since my population is specific, I will use a purposive sampling in which is a non-
probability sampling technique. This sampling is used when the researcher uses a criteria
(typically formed from the purpose of the study) to determine if someone should be included in
sample (Sampling Powerpoint,2023).This method will be used by selecting participants based on
their characteristics, knowledge, experiences, and BMI. Using this method will help to select
individuals who still fit within the criteria and have the ability to participate in the study. I will
recruit participants by using several platforms, linked in, and other social media in addition to
posting flyers and recruiting participants on foot, through word of mouth and email options.
How many participants will be in your sample? Why do you think you need this many?
I expect about 10-15 participants, due to the coding portion of the study and timing. More
than 15 participants will take more time to code, especially if they have detailed interviews.
Having a range of 10-15 participants will also be helpful in case some participants choose to
drop out of the study. Martens suggested that when using a phenomenology theory selecting 6-10
participants who be sufficient enough and conducting 3 interviews a piece(Martens, 2010,pg
332).Starting off with a small number and then maximizing the number of participants can be
beneficial to help ensure errors are not being made. The bigger the sample size, the more
accurate the results, and margin of error. In this case, the more interviews and observations by
researchers can allow researchers to control the risk of reporting false findings.
What is your position relative to those who you plan to research?
I will not know any of the participants. I think this way is better, even though it may be
challenging at first to make participants comfortable enough to open up to share their
experiences. I have never worked in a hospital setting or in any of the hospitals in my city so that
makes it easier but also challenging because I will need approval from these hospitals to recruit
participants.

References
Concordia University Chicago, CUC. (2023). Sampling Techniques [PowerPoint slides]. RES
7900 Research Design, Concordia University Chicago.
https://blackboard.cuchicago.edu/ultra/courses/_99939_1/cl/outline
Mertens, D.M. (2019). Research and evaluation in education and psychology. SAGE.