Activity 4.1.1: Sampling

Complete the table below based on the information provided in the following two scenarios:

analyse the sampling methods used in two different scenarios.

SCENARIO 1:

A researcher wants to gain a deeper understanding of cultural differences in humour by determining if South Africans interpret humour in the comedy show Anger Management in the same was as Americans do. The researcher asks one American couple and one South African couple to identify eight other couples, each from amongst their friends, forming a group of 36 participants in total. The participants are then divided into six groups each consisting of three couples. Three of the groups are American and the other three are South African. The participants are all aged between 28 and 32 years old and they are all married.

SCENARIO 2:

Dr Kabanzi is conducting research into the relationship between implementing a new accounting computer system and employee productivity. He selects all full-time employees who have been with the company for more than five years from a list of all employees assigned to the finance department. He then numbers the 100 names on the list and chooses every fifth name on the list to form the sample.

	Scenario 1	Scenario 2
Research tradition
Quantitative or qualitative research?
Population
Unit of analysis
A population parameter
Probability or non-probability sampling?
Are the results generalisable?
Sampling method used
Justification for choice of sampling method