The way in which we select a sample of individuals to be research participants is critical....

  

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The way in which we select a sample of individuals to be research participants is critical. How we select participants (random sampling) will determine the population to which we may generalize our research findings. The procedure that we use for assigning participants to different treatment conditions (random assignment) will determine whether bias exists in our treatment groups (Are the groups equal on all known and unknown factors?). If we do a poor job at the sampling stage of the research process, the integrity of the entire project is at risk. If we are interested in the effect of TV violence on children, which children are we going to observe? Where do they come from? How many? How will they be selected? These are important questions. Before describing sampling procedures, we need to define a few key terms. The term population means all members that meet a set of specifications or a specified criterion. For example, the population of the United States is defined as all people residing in the United States. A single member of any given population is referred to as an element. When only some elements are selected from a population, we refer to that as a sample. Source: Datta, Sanjoy. (2018). Sampling methods. 10.13140/RG.2.2.22856.57605. Answer ALL the questions in this section. Question 1 (10 Marks) For example, imagine we were interested in comparing the differences in career goals between male and female students at MANCOSA. If this was the case, we would want to ensure that the sample we selected had a proportional number of male and female students. However, in line with this kind of sampling technique, the total number of male and female students included in our sampling frame would only be equal if 5,000 students from MANCOSA were male and the other 5,000 students were female. Since this is unlikely to be the case, the number of units that should be selected for each sample (i.e., the number of male and female students selected) will vary. Discuss what sampling technique is being used and what the benefits and drawbacks of this sampling technique. Question 2 (10 Marks) A pharmaceutical company wants to put a novel medicine to the test. Volunteers are randomly allocated to one of two groups. The first group will be given the new medicine, while the second will be given a placebo. Discuss the four steps taken when conducting this sampling technique. Question 3 (10 Marks) To find out about voter apathy in a particular district, an organization decides to research to find out why people do not vote. To gather the required data, the researcher decides to administer a survey in one of the most expensive shopping malls in the region. This sampling method already excludes different sets of people in the region who are eligible to vote. For instance, it excludes people who cannot afford to shop in the mall plus people who would not even be in the mall when the survey is administered. The data that results from convenience sampling, as we see here, is an inaccurate representation of the thoughts and experiences of the larger population with voter apathy. Hence, the findings from this research will be greatly flawed and cannot be termed valid. Discuss how sampling bias can be avoided during a research study. The way in which we select a sample of individuals to be research participants is critical. How we select participants (random sampling) will determine the population to which we may generalize our research findings. The procedure that we use for assigning participants to different treatment conditions (random assignment) will determine whether bias exists in our treatment groups (Are the groups equal on all known and unknown factors?). If we do a poor job at the sampling stage of the research process, the integrity of the entire project is at risk. If we are interested in the effect of TV violence on children, which children are we going to observe? Where do they come from? How many? How will they be selected? These are important questions. Before describing sampling procedures, we need to define a few key terms. The term population means all members that meet a set of specifications or a specified criterion. For example, the population of the United States is defined as all people residing in the United States. A single member of any given population is referred to as an element. When only some elements are selected from a population, we refer to that as a sample. Source: Datta, Sanjoy. (2018). Sampling methods. 10.13140/RG.2.2.22856.57605. Answer ALL the questions in this section. Question 1 (10 Marks) For example, imagine we were interested in comparing the differences in career goals between male and female students at MANCOSA. If this was the case, we would want to ensure that the sample we selected had a proportional number of male and female students. However, in line with this kind of sampling technique, the total number of male and female students included in our sampling frame would only be equal if 5,000 students from MANCOSA were male and the other 5,000 students were female. Since this is unlikely to be the case, the number of units that should be selected for each sample (i.e., the number of male and female students selected) will vary. Discuss what sampling technique is being used and what the benefits and drawbacks of this sampling technique. Question 2 (10 Marks) A pharmaceutical company wants to put a novel medicine to the test. Volunteers are randomly allocated to one of two groups. The first group will be given the new medicine, while the second will be given a placebo. Discuss the four steps taken when conducting this sampling technique. Question 3 (10 Marks) To find out about voter apathy in a particular district, an organization decides to research to find out why people do not vote. To gather the required data, the researcher decides to administer a survey in one of the most expensive shopping malls in the region. This sampling method already excludes different sets of people in the region who are eligible to vote. For instance, it excludes people who cannot afford to shop in the mall plus people who would not even be in the mall when the survey is administered. The data that results from convenience sampling, as we see here, is an inaccurate representation of the thoughts and experiences of the larger population with voter apathy. Hence, the findings from this research will be greatly flawed and cannot be termed valid. Discuss how sampling bias can be avoided during a research study.