What Is Purposive Sampling? | Definition & Examples– Student Paper Help
Are you a research student conducting a qualitative study to get a detailed understanding of a particular idea? You may have a research question and want to address certain events or traits related to it. Then you will need to take a rich sample that directly relates to your research’s goals.
For this, you will need purposive sampling. Keep reading if you want to understand purposive sampling meaning as we will shed light on this subject in detail in this blog. If you want further guidance, take help from cheap dissertation writing service UK. Without further ado, let's dive in:
What is Purposive Sampling?
Purposive sampling is a category of non-probability sampling methods in which items are chosen because they possess traits that you require in your sample.
It is a popular sampling method used in mixed methods and qualitative studies. Plus, it is the best technique to use if you have to recognise data-rich cases or exploit restricted resources. However, bear in mind that it can lead to observer bias or other research biases.
The name of this sampling technique comes from the phrase “on purpose” since you choose units on purpose. It depends on your verdict when recognising and picking the people, incidents or cases that may offer the ideal data to accomplish the research’s goals. Purposive sampling is also known as judgemental sampling.
When Should You Use Purposive Sampling?
You should use this sampling technique if you wish to target comparatively small samples. The cases may be:
- You want to study a specific subset of the population that holds specific traits.
- You are studying problems with more potential to have distinct cases
The primary objective of this method is to recognise the people, cases or groups ideal for aiding you in addressing your study’s main argument or statement.
Therefore, purposive sampling is the best approach if you have a substantial amount of contextual data regarding your study’s subject. Your sample’s quality will rise with the increase in the information you have.
Purposive Sampling Methods
Maximum Variation Sampling
It is also called heterogeneous sampling. Maximum variation sampling is utilised to understand the largest array of judgements possible. You should add both organisations, cases, or incidents that are deemed standard or normal and those that are more deviant to guarantee maximum variation:
It assists you in scrutinising a topic from various outlooks, recognising significant common samples that are correct in all variations.
Examples
You need to study the issues that come with healthcare services programs in your country. You choose maximum variation sampling as your sampling method, and the programs in cities and villages in various areas of the country as the healthcare programs. Which helps you get maximum variation in areas.
Moreover, it also helps you record distinct or multiple variations that have come in several locations.
Suppose you are researching the challenges of mental health services programs in your state. Using maximum variation sampling, you select programs in urban and rural areas in different parts of the state, to capture maximum variation in location.
In this way, you can document unique or diverse variations that have emerged in different locations.
Homogeneous Sampling
Contrary to maximum variation sampling, this technique focuses on decreasing change, streamlining the assessment and explaining a specific subgroup in detail.
In a homogeneous sample, items have the same qualities or particular traits such as jobs, life events or cultures. You need to concentrate on accurate similarity assessing how it ties with your study’s main subject. Homogenous sampling is typically employed to choose focus group contributors.
Example
We have given the example of you conducting a study on healthcare services in your country in the preceding section. Suppose you now want to take group interviews of people from various races to shed light on their individual experiences.
Utilising homogeneous sampling method, you choose Latino owners of healthcare services organisations and interviewed them regarding the issues they face while using evidence-based treatments for their healthcare programs.
Typical Case Sampling
This is employed when you wish to elucidate what is thought of as an average or standard example of a fact or situation to people who don't understand it.
Contributors are usually selected depending on their possibility of working like everyone else with the similar traits or experiences. Bear in mind that the objective of this technique is to clarify a phenomenon and not to give generalised perspectives regarding all participants’ experiences.
Therefore, typical case sampling enables you to weigh up samples, not generalise them to groups.
Example
Suppose you want to study how 10th grade students react to an employment program. You create a typical case sample by picking contributors with the same socioeconomic backgrounds from 6 different states.
You gather the students’ reactions through interviews or surveys and develop a profile of a “normal” 9th grader who used an employment program. It may provide valuable data to companies’ owners who wish to employ these students in the future.
Extreme Case Sampling
Extreme case sampling aims to elucidate uncommon cases or outliers. It may include outstanding failures or successes, “first position in the exam vs. last position in the exam”, occurrences, or any atypical occurrence of a fact or situation of interest.
This method is also known as deviant case sampling and typically employed when scholars are seeking do’s and don'ts.
Example
You are studying surgery patients who got better in substantially less or more time than normal. You will then search for variation in these unusual cases to describe the reasons for the uncommonness of their recoveries.
Critical Case Sampling
This method is employed when you can utilise one of the very small number of occurrences to describe other similar events. Scholars establish if a case is critical by employing this premise, “If it occurs here, it will occur anywhere”
In a nutshell, critical cases are ones in which what is correct for them can be possibly correct for all other cases. Critical case sampling doesn't allow you to make statistical inferences, but implement the results to similar cases. Scholars use this method in the primary stages of their study to describe if a more detailed research is required.
Example
You are studying the ways to include local populations in government decision-making processes in your city. However, you don’t know with certainty if the populations will comprehend the regulations.
First method is to ask the state officers in your city, and they don't comprehend them, then possibly no one will. Another way is to question random people, and if they do comprehend them, then probably most people will.
It means that the critical cases may either be people with related skills or those who lack any related expertise.
Expert Sampling
This technique is utilised when your study needs people with substantial knowledge about a specific topic. Therefore, you choose your skilled people depending on a provable set of expertise or the number of years of experience possessed.
Expert sampling helps if you don't have observational proof, are examining new fields of study or are performing exploratory research.
Example
You are examining the obstacles to decreased meat consumption in the UK’s population. Apart from the target consumer groups, you intend to get in touch with some professionals to interview them.
Your study’s background implies that food scientists are the professionals who could offer helpful information regarding the cause of the issue, plus any failures, successes or future trends that can be watched.
Bottom Line
Purposive sampling is a helpful technique to create samples if you want to study a small number of people or events. But remember that this method can lead to several biases. Therefore, researchers should record the biases in the methodology chapter of their dissertation and not to implement any explanations beyond the population sample they have taken.
If you need further assistance, you can contact “assignment writers near me” with expertise in research methods. We also have described all the types of purposive sampling with examples in this blog to provide you with all the necessary information.
