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Application of Snowball Sampling: An Example
Application of Snowball Sampling: An Example
Application of Snowball Sampling: An Example
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Snowball sampling
Snowball sampling (also known as chain-referral sampling) is a non-probability (non-random) sampling method
used when characteristics to be possessed by samples are rare and difficult to find. For example, if you are
studying the level of customer satisfaction among elite Nirvana Bali Golf Club in Bali, you will find it increasingly
difficult to find primary data sources unless a member is willing to provide you with contacts of other members.
This sampling method involves primary data sources nominating another potential primary data sources to be
used in the research. In other words, snowball sampling method is based on referrals from initial subjects to
generate additional subjects. Therefore, when applying this sampling method members of the sample group are
recruited via chain referral.
Also, snowball sampling is the most popular in business studies focusing on a specific company that involve
primary data collection from employees of that company. Once you have contact details of one employee she/he
can help you to recruit other employees to the study by providing contact details.
1. Linear snowball sampling. Formation of a sample group starts with only one subject and the subject
provides only one referral. The referral is recruited into the sample group and he/she also provides only one new
referral. This pattern is continued until the sample group is fully formed.
2. Exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling. The first subject recruited to the sample group provides multiple referrals. Each
new referral is explored until primary data from sufficient amount of samples are collected.
3. Exponential discriminative snowball sampling. Subjects give multiple referrals, however, only one new subject is recruited among
them. The choice of a new subject is guided by the aim and objectives of the study.
1. Establish a contact with one or two initial cases from the sampling frame. This stage is usually the most difficult one.
2. Request the initial cases to identify more cases
3. Ask new cases to identify further cases (and so on)
4 Stop when:
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4. Stop when:
5. a) Your pre-specified sample size has been completed;
6. b) There are no further cases left;
7. c) Pursuing further cases will make the project unmanageable due to the large size.
If using questionnaire as primary data collection method, you can effectively apply snowball sampling with the use of emails. Specifically,
body of the email requesting sample group members to participate in the survey can include a sentence along the following lines:
I would be very grateful if you could provide me with e-mail addresses of other employees in your department/managers who are known to
practice democratic leadership style/other people who have bought the same product/etc. who could also participate in this survey.
My e-book, The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: a step by step approach contains a detailed, yet simple
explanation of sampling methods. The e-book explains all stages of the research process starting from the selection of the research area to
writing personal reflection. Important elements of dissertations such as research philosophy, research approach, research design, methods
of data collection and data analysis are explained in this e-book in simple words.
John Dudovskiy
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