Sampling Methods | Types,

Techniques & Examples

When you conduct research about a group of

people, it’s rarely possible to collect data
from every person in that group. Instead, you
select a sample. The sample is the group of
individuals who will actually participate in
the research.

To draw valid conclusions from your results,

you have to carefully decide how you will It can be very broad or quite narrow: maybe
select a sample that is representative of the you want to make inferences about the whole
group as a whole. This is called a sampling adult population of your country; maybe your
method. There are two primary types of research focuses on customers of a certain
sampling methods that you can use in your company, patients with a specific health
research: condition, or students in a single school.

• Probability sampling involves It is important to carefully define your target

random selection, allowing you to population according to the purpose and
make strong statistical inferences practicalities of your project.
about the whole group.
• Non-probability sampling involves If the population is very large,
non-random selection based on demographically mixed, and geographically
convenience or other criteria, dispersed, it might be difficult to gain access
allowing you to easily collect data. to a representative sample. A lack of a
representative sample affects the validity of
You should clearly explain how you selected your results, and can lead to several research
your sample in the methodology section of biases, particularly sampling bias.
your paper or thesis, as well as how you
approached minimizing research bias in your Sampling frame
work.
The sampling frame is the actual list of
individuals that the sample will be drawn
Population vs. sample from. Ideally, it should include the entire
target population (and nobody who is not part
First, you need to understand the difference
of that population).
between a population and a sample, and
identify the target population of your
Example: Sampling frame You are doing
research.
research on working conditions at a social
media marketing company. Your population
• The population is the entire group
is all 1000 employees of the company. Your
that you want to draw conclusions
sampling frame is the company’s HR
about.
database, which lists the names and contact
• The sample is the specific group of
details of every employee.
individuals that you will collect data
from.
Sample size
The population can be defined in terms of The number of individuals you should
geographical location, age, income, or many include in your sample depends on various
other characteristics. factors, including the size and variability of
the population and your research design.
There are different sample size
calculators and formulas depending on what
you want to achieve with statistical analysis.

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Probability sampling employee in the company database from 1 to
1000, and use a random number generator to
methods select 100 numbers.
Probability sampling means that every
member of the population has a chance of
2. Systematic sampling
being selected. It is mainly used Systematic sampling is similar to simple
in quantitative research. If you want to random sampling, but it is usually slightly
produce results that are representative of the easier to conduct. Every member of the
whole population, probability sampling population is listed with a number, but
techniques are the most valid choice. instead of randomly generating numbers,
individuals are chosen at regular intervals.
There are four main types of probability
sample. Example: Systematic samplingAll employees
of the company are listed in alphabetical
order. From the first 10 numbers, you
randomly select a starting point: number 6.
From number 6 onwards, every 10th person
on the list is selected (6, 16, 26, 36, and so
on), and you end up with a sample of 100
people.
If you use this technique, it is important to
make sure that there is no hidden pattern in
the list that might skew the sample. For
example, if the HR database groups
employees by team, and team members are
listed in order of seniority, there is a risk that
your interval might skip over people in junior
roles, resulting in a sample that is skewed
towards senior employees.

3. Stratified sampling
Stratified sampling involves dividing the
population into subpopulations that may
differ in important ways. It allows you draw
more precise conclusions by ensuring that
every subgroup is properly represented in the
sample.

To use this sampling method, you divide the

population into subgroups (called strata)
based on the relevant characteristic (e.g.,
gender identity, age range, income bracket,
job role).

Based on the overall proportions of the

1. Simple random sampling population, you calculate how many people
should be sampled from each subgroup. Then
In a simple random sample, every member of you use random or systematic sampling to
the population has an equal chance of being select a sample from each subgroup.
selected. Your sampling frame should
include the whole population. Example: Stratified samplingThe company
has 800 female employees and 200 male
To conduct this type of sampling, you can use employees. You want to ensure that the
tools like random number generators or other sample reflects the gender balance of the
techniques that are based entirely on chance. company, so you sort the population into two
strata based on gender. Then you use random
Example: Simple random sampling You want sampling on each group, selecting 80 women
to select a simple random sample of 1000 and 20 men, which gives you a representative
employees of a social media marketing sample of 100 people.
company. You assign a number to every

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4. Cluster sampling
Cluster sampling also involves dividing the
population into subgroups, but each subgroup
should have similar characteristics to the
whole sample. Instead of sampling
individuals from each subgroup, you
randomly select entire subgroups.

If it is practically possible, you might include

every individual from each sampled cluster.
If the clusters themselves are large, you can
also sample individuals from within each
cluster using one of the techniques above.
This is called multistage sampling.

This method is good for dealing with large 1. Convenience sampling

and dispersed populations, but there is more
risk of error in the sample, as there could be A convenience sample simply includes the
substantial differences between clusters. It’s individuals who happen to be most accessible
difficult to guarantee that the sampled to the researcher.
clusters are really representative of the whole
population. This is an easy and inexpensive way to gather
initial data, but there is no way to tell if the
Example: Cluster samplingThe company has sample is representative of the population, so
offices in 10 cities across the country (all with it can’t produce generalizable results.
roughly the same number of employees in Convenience samples are at risk for
similar roles). You don’t have the capacity to both sampling bias and selection bias.
travel to every office to collect your data, so
you use random sampling to select 3 offices Example: Convenience samplingYou are
– these are your clusters. researching opinions about student support
services in your university, so after each of
your classes, you ask your fellow students to
Non-probability sampling complete a survey on the topic. This is a
methods convenient way to gather data, but as you
only surveyed students taking the same
In a non-probability sample, individuals are
classes as you at the same level, the sample is
selected based on non-random criteria, and
not representative of all the students at your
not every individual has a chance of being
university.
included.

This type of sample is easier and cheaper to

access, but it has a higher risk of sampling
2. Voluntary response sampling
bias. That means the inferences you can make
about the population are weaker than with Similar to a convenience sample, a voluntary
probability samples, and your conclusions response sample is mainly based on ease of
may be more limited. If you use a non- access. Instead of the researcher choosing
probability sample, you should still aim to participants and directly contacting them,
make it as representative of the population as people volunteer themselves (e.g. by
possible. responding to a public online survey).

Non-probability sampling techniques are Voluntary response samples are always at

often used in exploratory and qualitative least somewhat biased, as some people will
research. In these types of research, the aim inherently be more likely to volunteer than
is not to test a hypothesis about a broad others, leading to self-selection bias.
population, but to develop an initial
understanding of a small or under-researched Example: Voluntary response samplingYou
population. send out the survey to all students at your
university and a lot of students decide to
complete it. This can certainly give you some
insight into the topic, but the people who
responded are more likely to be those who

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have strong opinions about the student quota. These units share specific
support services, so you can’t be sure that characteristics, determined by you prior to
their opinions are representative of all forming your strata. The aim of quota
students. sampling is to control what or who makes up
your sample.
3. Purposive sampling
This type of sampling, also known as Example: Quota samplingYou want to gauge
judgement sampling, involves the researcher consumer interest in a new produce delivery
using their expertise to select a sample that is service in Boston, focused on dietary
most useful to the purposes of the research. preferences. You divide the population into
meat eaters, vegetarians, and vegans, drawing
It is often used in qualitative research, where a sample of 1000 people. Since the company
the researcher wants to gain detailed wants to cater to all consumers, you set a
knowledge about a specific phenomenon quota of 200 people for each dietary group. In
rather than make statistical inferences, or this way, all dietary preferences are equally
where the population is very small and represented in your research, and you can
specific. An effective purposive sample must easily compare these groups.You continue
have clear criteria and rationale for inclusion.
recruiting until you reach the quota of 200
Always make sure to describe your inclusion
participants for each subgroup.
and exclusion criteria and beware of observer
bias affecting your arguments.

Example: Purposive samplingYou want to

know more about the opinions and
experiences of disabled students at your
university, so you purposefully select a
number of students with different support
needs in order to gather a varied range of data
on their experiences with student services.

4. Snowball sampling
If the population is hard to access, snowball
sampling can be used to recruit participants
via other participants. The number of people
you have access to “snowballs” as you get in
contact with more people. The downside here
is also representativeness, as you have no
way of knowing how representative your
sample is due to the reliance on participants
recruiting others. This can lead to sampling
bias.

Example: Snowball samplingYou are

researching experiences of homelessness in
your city. Since there is no list of all homeless
people in the city, probability sampling isn’t
possible. You meet one person who agrees to
participate in the research, and she puts you
in contact with other homeless people that
she knows in the area.

5. Quota sampling
Quota sampling relies on the non-random
selection of a predetermined number or
proportion of units. This is called a quota.

You first divide the population into mutually

exclusive subgroups (called strata) and then
recruit sample units until you reach your

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