SAMPLING TECHNIQUE IN QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH (Research Participant/Informant)
PLG 702
12 March 2019
ACCESS TO THE SAMPLE
Is access to the sample permitted, practicable,
realistic?
Who will give/withhold/deny permission to access
the sample?
Who are the ‘gatekeepers’?
Sampling Strategies Outline (Miles &
Huberman, 1994)
6. Is the sampling plan feasible?
5. Is the sample strategy ethical?
4 . Produce believable descriptions/
explanations
3. Enhance the generalizability
2. To generate rich information
1. Relevant to conceptual framework
and RQ2
Types Of Sampling Technique
Theoretical Convenience
Sampling Sampling
Sampling
Technique
Purposive Sampling Snowball Sampling
CONVENIENCE SAMPLE
Opportunity sample (often those to whom there is easy
access).
Least rigorous technique
Least costly (time & money)
Question:
What is the disadvantage of this method?
SNOWBALL SAMPLING
AKA chain referral sampling
One sample leads on to more of the same kind of
sample.
The power of social networks among participants
Used to find “hidden populations” which cannot be
access by other sampling technique.
Question:
What is the disadvantage of this method?
SNOWBALL SAMPLING
Person
RESEARCHER RESEARCHER HAS 3
1
CONTACTS
Friend/contact 1 Friend/contact 2 Friend/contact 3
contacts his/her contacts his/her contacts his/her
own own own
friends/contacts/ friends/contacts/ friends/contacts/
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1
1 2
THE 3 CONTACTS EACH HAVE 3 CONTACTS
PURPOSIVE SAMPLE
Commonly used in qualitative research.
Deliberately chosen for specific purposes.
Number of sample is small
Main goal is to focus on particular characteristics of a
population that are of interest.
The power of this sample lies in selecting information-rich-
cases for study in depth.
Question:
What is the disadvantage of this method?
KINDS OF PURPOSIVE SAMPLING
● Critical case sampling
● Extreme case sampling
● Deviant case sampling
● Boosted sample
● Negative case sampling
● Maximum variation sampling
● Typical case sampling
● Intensity sampling
KINDS OF PURPOSIVE SAMPLING
● Homogeneous sampling
● Reputational case sampling
● Revelatory case sampling
● Politically important case sampling
● Complete collection sampling
● Theoretical sampling
● Confirming and disconfirming case sampling
THEORETICAL SAMPLING
Developed from grounded theory approach.
The researcher must have sufficient data to be able to
generate and ‘ground’ the theory in the research context,
i.e. to create theoretical explanation of what is
happening in the situation, without having any data that
do not fit the theory.
The researcher proceeds in gathering more and more
data until the theory remains unchanged (saturated),
until no modifications to the grounded theory are made
in light of the constant comparison method.
THEORETICAL SAMPLING
Goving opportunity to analyse the data as the sampling
progresses
Researcher can add to or change the emphasis of the
sample design
Ensuring robustness.
Question:
What is the disadvantage of this method?
VOLUNTEER SAMPLING
Volunteers may be well intentioned, but they do not
necessarily represent the wider population.
Caution: people volunteer for different motives, e.g.:
wanting to help a friend
interest in the research
wanting to benefit society
revenge on a particular school or head teacher.
