Sampling

of
participan
ts
Sumeya, Asma and Siham
A population is a group, sharing one or more
characteristics, from which a sample is drawn.
A sample is the group of people selected to
represent the population in a study.
Sampling technique is the method used to
obtain the participants for a study from the
population. There are three types of sampling
techniques.
In a a sample details such as age, ethnicity and
gender are important because they affect many
psychological differences.
Types of Sampling

Opportunity sampling is when the participants are chosen because

they are available at the time and place where the research is taking
place.
Volunteer (self-selected) sampling is when participants are invited
to take part in studies via advertisements or emails.
Random sampling is when all members of the population are
allocated number and a fixed amount of these are chosen in an
unbiased way, for example, picking out numbers from a hat.
Opportunity sampling

is a study where people from the target population available at the time and
willing to take part undertake the research.It is based on convenience. An
opportunity sample is unlikely to represent the population fairly because
readily available people will tend to be alike. For example, selecting a sample
of students for those coming out of math class. Furthermore, opportunity
sampling can have its positivity as well. It is a quick and easy way of
choosing participants and It is the most common method even for qualified
and professional psychologists.
 “
An example would be selecting a sample of
students from those coming out of the
library. It may not provide a representative
sample, and could be biased (disadvantage).
 Strengths & weaknesses

Researchers are unlikely to

Large numbers of participants
can be obtained relatively
quickly and easily because
researchers use people who
are around
gain a wide variety of
participants to allow for
generalisation
Experiment bias

Convenient
Volunteer sampling

where participants choose to join the research.

The participants can opt to join the research by replying to adverts
placed by the researcher about the topic and methods being used.
Volunteer sampling does not generate a representative sample, so
therefore would not be the preferred choice of researchers who were keen
to be able to generalize their data to the whole population.

The Researchers may put up an advertisement, make an announcement

or post a request on the internet. ( we give an example) or even a case
study
 “
is when TV show hosts of competitions, such
as the American Idol, ask their viewers to
send in their responses for who they think
should win the competition. Only viewers
who have strong opinions on who should win
will send in their votes.
 Strengths & weaknesses

Researchers are unlikely to

Participants are more likely to
participate if they have
already volunteered so the
drop-out rate should be lower,
making generalisations
stronger
gain a wide variety of
participants to allow for
generalisation because
participants will only be of a
certain type
Slow and time consuming

No experiment bias
Random sampling

is when all members of the population are allocated number and a

fixed amount of these are chosen in an unbiased way, for example,
picking out numbers from a hat.
random sampling is a type of probability sampling in which the
researcher randomly selects a subset of participants from a
population
 “
An example of a simple random sample
would be the names of 25 employees being
chosen out of a hat from a company of 250
employees. In this case, the population is all
250 employees, and the sample is random
because each employee has an equal chance
of being chosen.
 Strengths & weaknesses

Obtaining details of the TP to

use to draw the sample may
Researchers can generalise
be difficult - a representative
the target population (TP)
sample cannot be guaranteed
with more confidence
Researchers may gain a
‘perfect sample’ but still have
the problem that participants
will not take
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