Research Methods for Business Students
8th edition
Chapter 7
Selecting samples
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
By the end of this chapter you should:
7.1 understand the need to select samples in business and management
research;
7.2 be aware of a range of probability and non-probability sampling
techniques and the possible need to combine techniques within a
research project;
7.3 be able to choose appropriate sampling techniques for a variety of
research scenarios and justify your choices;
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
7.4 be able to use a range of sampling techniques;
7.5 be able (where appropriate) to assess the representativeness of the
sample selected;
7.6 be able to assess the extent to which it is reasonable to generalise
from a sample;
7.7 be able to apply the knowledge, skills and understanding gained to
your own research project.
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What is sampling?
• The process of selecting a subset of participants from a larger group
• E.g., Your research aimed to assess US consumers’ perceptions about
a particular brand of laundry detergent.
• => collect data from a smaller subset of this group (single person use
laundry detergent)
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Population, target population, sample and
individual cases
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Population - Sample
• A population can be made up of anything you want to study.
• In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of
people.
• In finance, it most often refers to stocks in the equity markets.
ÞThe more precisely you define your population, the easier it
will be to gather a representative sample.
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Population - Sample
• E.g.,
Research topic: the effectiveness of online teaching in the US
ÞPopulation: all high school students in the country
ÞTarget population (narrower population): the 9th-grade
students in low-income areas in New York.
ÞSample???
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Sampling
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Sampling techniques
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Probability Sampling
• Probability sampling helps ensure that your sample is representative
and unbiased.
• Use statistics to draw strong conclusions about the whole population.
• Sampling methods:
- Simple random sample
- Systematic sample
- Stratified sample
- Cluster sample
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Simple/systematic random sampling
- Selecting participants in a completely random fashion, where each
participants has an equal chance of being selected.
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Stratified sampling
Selecting participants randomly, but from within certain pre-defined
subgroups (strata) that share a common trait.
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Cluster sampling
Sampling from naturally occurring, mutually exclusive clusters within
a population.
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
- If the population is homogeneous:
=> Cluster sampling will do the trick
- If the population is heterogeneous:
=> Stratified sampling will do the trick
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The effectiveness of online teaching in the
US
Using cluster sampling:
- Compile a list of all schools in low-income areas of NewYork
- Use a random number generator to select a sample of schools to collect data
from
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Non-probability sample
• Easier to achieve
• More risk of bias
• Non-Probability methods:
- Purposive sampling
- Convenience sampling
- Snowball sampling
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Purposive sampling
(Judgement or subjective sampling)
• The researcher selects participants using their own judgment, based on
the purpose of the study
• E.g.: to understand the perceptions of hyper-loyal customers of the
particular retail store.
• => use your judgment to engage with frequent shoppers, occasional
shoppers
• => analyse the resultant data to understand what perceptions and
attitudes
• Use: where the aim is to go narrow and deep rather than broad.
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Convenience sampling
Participants are selected based on their availability and accessibility
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Voluntary response sampling
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The effectiveness of online teaching in the US
=> Results would be biased towards students who have
higher grades
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Sample sizes for different sizes of target population at
a 95 per cent confidence level (assuming data are
collected from all cases in the sample)
Margin of error
Target population 5% 3% 2% 1%
50 44 48 49 50
100 79 91 96 99
250 151 203 226 244
500 217 340 414 475
1000 278 516 706 906
2000 322 696 1091 1655
10,000 370 964 1936 4899
1,000,000 384 1066 2395 9513
10,000,000 384 1067 2400 9595
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Levels of non-response
Level Explanation
Complete refusal none of the questions answered
Break-off less than 50 per cent of all questions answered other
than by a refusal or no answer (this therefore includes
complete refusal)
Partial response 50 per cent to 80 per cent of all questions answered
other than by a refusal or no answer
Complete response over 80 per cent of all questions answered other than by
a refusal or no answer
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Choosing a probability sampling technique
Note: Simple random sampling ideally requires a sample size of over a few hundred
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Choosing a probability sampling technique
Note: Simple random sampling ideally requires a sample size of over a few hundred
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Impact of various factors on choice of probability
sampling techniques
Source: © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2018
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Table 7.2 (2 of 4)
Impact of various factors on choice of probability
sampling techniques
Source: © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2018
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Table 7.2 (3 of 4)
Impact of various factors on choice of probability
sampling techniques
Source: © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2018
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Table 7.2 (4 of 4)
Impact of various factors on choice of probability
sampling techniques
Source: © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2018
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Extract of spreadsheet generated random
numbers between 1 and 5011
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The impact of periodic patterns on systematic
random sampling
✓ Sample selected if you start with 1. * Sample selected if you start with 2.
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Choosing a non-probability sampling
technique
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Choosing a non-probability sampling
technique
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Non-probability sample size norms when using
qualitative interviews
Source: Developed from Saunders and Townsend (2016)
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Impact of various factors on choice of non-
probability sampling techniques
Sources: Developed from Patton (2015); Saunders (2012)
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Impact of various factors on choice of non-
probability sampling techniques
Sources: Developed from Patton (2015); Saunders (2012)
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Impact of various factors on choice of non-
probability sampling techniques
Sources: Developed from Patton (2015); Saunders (2012)
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Impact of various factors on choice of non-
probability sampling techniques
Sources: Developed from Patton (2015); Saunders (2012)
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved