Research Methods- Key Terms

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  • Created by: AliceTori
  • Created on: 21-05-17 10:41
Population
a group of people who are the focus of the researcher's interest, from which a smaller sample is drawn
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Sample
a group of people who take part in a research investigation
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The sample is drawn from...
a target population and is presumed to be representative of that population
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Sampling technique
the method used to select people from the target population
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Random sample
all members of the target population have an equal chance of being selected
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Positives of random sampling
free from researcher bias (cannot choose who they think will support the hypothesis)
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Negatives of random sampling
difficult and time consuming (need complete list of target poluation
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Negatives of random sampling
sample may not be representative of the target population
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Systematic sample
Every nth member of the target population is selected (e.g every 3rd house on a street)
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Positives of systematic sampling
avoids research bias- researcher follows a system so cannot choose who takes part
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Positives of systematic sampling
usually fairly representative (e.g. unlikely to gain all male sample using this method)
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Stratified sample
composition of sample represents proportion of sub groups in the target population (e.g. identify sub groups; work out proportions needed for sample to represent these; select participants using random sampling)
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Positives of stratified sampling
avoids researcher bias; representative as reflects composition of the target population so can be generalised
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Negatives stratified sampling
not all sub groups might get represented
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Opportunity sample
selecting participants from the target population who happen to be willing and available at the time of the study (e.g. asking people on the street)
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Positives of opportunity sampling
convenient and saves time and effort
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Negatives of opportunity sampling
sample may not be representative of target population as usually drawn from a very specific area, so it is difficult to generalise
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Negatives of opportunity sampling
researcher bias- researchers may choose people who they think will support their hypothesis
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Volunteer sample
participants select themselves (a self selected sample)- e.g. responding to a newspaper advert
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Positives of volunteer sampling
it is easy as minimal input of the researcher so it is less time consuming than other methods
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Negatives of volunteer sampling
volunteer bias- volunteers may have particular profile (e.g. helpful, keen, curious) so difficult to generalise to the target population
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Bias
in the context of sampling. when certain groups may be over or under represented within the sample selected
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An example of bias is...
there may be too many younger people of one ethnic origin in a sample
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Bias limits...
the extent to which generalisations can be made to the target population
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Generalisation
the extent to which findings and conclusions from a particular investigation can be broadly applied to the population
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Generalisations can be made possible by...
the sample of participants being representative of the target popualtion
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

a group of people who take part in a research investigation

Back

Sample

Card 3

Front

a target population and is presumed to be representative of that population

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

the method used to select people from the target population

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

all members of the target population have an equal chance of being selected

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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