Research Methods Ch 5

A researcher gets a list of all 500 members of Social Club Z that she wants to include in her study. She only has the funding and time to survey 50 members. She takes her list of members, randomly selects a starting point, and then selects every tenth name from the list to be included in her sample. In this example, the sampling interval is ______.

10

The term "target population" refers to:

A set of elements larger than or different from the population sampled and to which the researcher would like to generalize study findings

Exists when findings about one group, population, or setting hold true for other groups, populations, or settings

Cross-Population Generalizability (External Validity

Sampling in which elements are selected in two or more stages, with the first stage being the random selection of naturally occurring clusters and the last stage being the random selection of multilevel elements within clusters

Multistage Cluster Sampling

Which of the following best describes a multistage cluster sampling method?

NOT Sample elements are added to a list and each is assigned a random number. Elements are then selected randomly using a random number table.

Which of the following best describes a disproportionate stratified random sampling method?

NOT none of the above

Which of the following is a potential cause of sampling error?

NOT the sample is large

Sampling methods in which the probability of selection population elements is unknown

Nonprobability Sampling Methods

People or other entities who do not participate in a study although they are selected for the sample

Nonresponse

A sequence of elements (in a list to be sampled) that varies in some regular, periodic pattern

Periodicity

The entire set of elements (e.g. individuals, cities, states, countries, prisons, schools) in which we are interested

Population

Sampling methods that rely on a random, or chance, selection method so that the probability of selection method so that the probability of selection of population elements is known.

Probability Sampling Methods

The likelihood that an element will be selected from the population for inclusion in the sample. In a census, of all the elements of a population, the probability that any particular element will be selected is 1.0 because everyone will be selected. If half the elements in the population are sampled on the basis of chance (say, by tossing a coin), the probability of selection for each element is one half (0.5). When the size of the sample as a proportion of the population decreases, so does the probability of selection.

Probability of Selection

Sampling methods in which elements are selected from strata in exact proportion to their representation in the population.

Proportionate Stratified Sampling

A nonprobability sampling method in which elements are selected for a purpose, usually because of their unique position; sometimes referred to as judgment sampling.

Purposive Sampling

Which of the following terms best represents a sampling method which selects elements because of their unique position or knowledge about a particular phenomenon?

Purposive sampling

A method of sampling in which every sample element is selected only on the basis of chance through a random process.

Simple Random Sampling

In what type or types of sample design do elements have an equal probability of selection?

Simple random, proportionate stratified random sampling, and EPSEM

A method of sampling in which sample elements are selected as they are identified by successive informants or interviewees

Snowball Sampling

A method of sampling in which sample elements are selected separately from population strata that are identified in advance by the researcher.

Stratified Random Sampling

Overrepresentation or underrepresentation of some population characteristics in a sample resulting from the method used to select the sample; a sample shaped by systematic sampling error is a biased sample.

Systematic Bias

A method of sampling in which sample elements are selected from a list or from sequential files, with every nth element being selected after the first element is selected randomly within the first interval

Systematic Random Sampling

A set of elements larger than or different from the population sampled and to which the researcher would like to generalize study findings.

Target Population

T/F: A target population is a set of elements larger than or different from the population sampled and to which the researcher would like to generalize study findings.

True

T/F: Periodicity is a source of sampling error in most nonprobability sampling.

True

T/F: The larger the sample, the more confidence we can have in the sample's representativeness.

True

The level of social life on which a research question is focused, such as individuals.

Units of Analysis

The cases about which measures actually are obtained in a sample.

Units of Observation

A list of all elements of a population from which a sample is actually selected

Sampling Frame

The number of cases from one sampled case to another in a systematic random sample.

Sampling Interval

Units selected at each stage of a multistage sampling design

Sampling Units

Which of the following terms is defined as: "a list of all elements of a population from which a sample is selected?"

Sampling frame

When magazines and websites create surveys that readers or visitors to the website can choose to complete, what type of sampling method is used?

Availability

Sampling in which elements are selected on the basis of convenience

Availability Sampling

Which of the following terms best represents a sampling method which selects elements on the basis of convenience?

Availability sampling

Research in which information is obtained through the responses that all available members of an entire population give to questions

Census

A naturally occurring, mixed aggregate of elements of the population

Cluster

Sampling in which elements are selected from strata in different proportions from those that appear in the population

Disproportionate Stratified Sampling

The individual entities of the population whose characteristics are to be measured

ELements

An error in reasoning in which incorrect conclusions about individual level processes are drawn from group-level data

Ecological fallacy

Which of the following terms is defined as: "the individual entities of the population whose characteristics are to be measured?"

Elements

Which of the following is FALSE about a random probability sample?

Elements are chose haphazardly

Unites that contain one or more elements and that are listed in a sampling frame

Enumeration Units

T/F: Cluster sampling is a form of nonprobability sampling.

False

T/F: It is possible to determine the probability of selection of elements in a disproportionate stratified random sample.

False

T/F: When cases are chosen not to represent the population but because of an interesting outcome, we are sampling the outcome quotient.

False

The individual members of the population whose characteristics are to be measured are called the sample.

False

Which of the following terms best represents a nonprobability sampling method which selects elements to ensure that the sample represents certain characteristics in proportion to their prevalence in the population?

Quota

A nonprobability sampling method in which elements are selected to ensure that the sample represents certain characteristics in proportion to their prevalence in the population.

Quota Sampling

The random dialing by a machine of numbers within designated phone prefixes, which creates a random sample for phone surveys

Random Digit Dialing (RDD)

A table containing lists of numbers that are ordered solely on the basis of chance; it is used for drawing a random sample

Random Number Table

The fundamental element of probability samples. The essential characteristic of random selection is that every element of the population has a known and independent chance of being selected into the sample.

Random Selection

An error in reasoning that occurs when incorrect conclusions about group-level processes are based on individual-level data.

Reductionist Fallacy (Reductionism)

A method of sampling in which sample elements are returned to the sampling frame after being selected, so they may be sample again; random samples may be selected with or without replacement

Replacement Sampling

A sample that looks similar to the population from which it was selected in all respects that are potentially relevant to the study. The distribution of characteristics among the elements of a representative sample is the same as the distribution of those characteristics among the total population. In an unrepresentative sample, some characteristics are overrepresented or underrepresented.

Representative Sample

A subset of elements from the larger population

Sample

Exists when a conclusion based on a sample, or subset, of a larger population holds true for that population

Sample Generalizability

Which of the following best describes a systematic random sampling method?

Sample elements are selected from a list, then every nth element is selected after the first element is selected randomly within the first interval

Any difference between the characteristics of a sample and the characteristics of the population from which it was drawn; the larger the sampling error, the less representative the sample is of the population

Sampling Error

Which of the following is not a common type of probability sampling?

haphazard sampling

The __________ the sample, the more __________ we can have in the sample's representativeness.

larger; confidence