Deck 7: Selecting Samples

Question 1

A census samples all the elements in a population.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT part of the sampling design process?

A) Defining of the population of the study
B) Determining the relevant sample frame
C) Selection of the sampling technique
D) Refining the research question

Answer 2

Refining the research question

Question 3

It is often impractical to undertake a census in business and management research due to ________.

A) Time constraints
B) Worries about validity
C) Insufficient sampling frame
D) Inability to apply statistical tests

Answer 3

Time constraints

Question 4

You only need to consider your sampling strategy if you plan to undertake questionnaire research.

Question 5

Administering a structured interview to passers-by at a theme park is an example of ________.

A) Convenience sampling
B) Purposive sampling
C) Random sampling
D) Simple sampling

Question 6

Another word for "non-probability" sampling is "representative" sampling.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT a benefit from sampling?

A) Possibly higher overall accuracy
B) Possibly higher generalisability
C) More time for design and piloting
D) Collecting more detailed information

Question 8

Which of these is the correct definition of probability sampling?

A) Every case is probably the same as the others
B) Every case has a known and equal chance of selection
C) Every case will probably be in the research
D) None of the above

Question 9

You can still generalise findings generated by non-probability samples, but not on statistical grounds.

Question 10

"Mansur's research objective is to find out whether a new maintenance procedure helps ensure quality of manufacturing output." Which sampling strategy could he use?

A) Simple random sampling
B) Non-probability sampling
C) Quota sampling
D) Any of the above

Question 11

Which of these is a probability sampling technique?

A) Snowball
B) Convenience
C) Systematic
D) Critical case

Question 12

Which of these is a non-probability sampling technique?

A) Purposive
B) Multi-stage
C) Random
D) Cluster

Question 13

Populations containing less than 50 elements are unlikely to be suitable for probability sampling.

Question 14

What is a sampling frame?

A) A complete list of the participants in your study
B) A complete list of all elements in your population
C) The amount of confidence you have in your sample's accuracy
D) The time-frame after which you will not accept responses from your sample

Question 15

Why is the UK telephone directory a poor sampling frame for typical UK householders?

A) It is out of date
B) It is incomplete
C) It is biased
D) All of these

Question 16

Not making inferences beyond your sampling frame is placing clear limits on ________.

A) The generalisability of your findings
B) The number of cases in your sample
C) The confidence you have in your results
D) The number of non-responses you expect to get

Question 17

Which of these is NOT a concern in deciding on a representative sample size?

A) Confidence in the results
B) Margin of error
C) Willingness to take part
D) Size of population

Question 18

A sample size of 30 is a good rule of thumb for enabling statistical analysis to be undertaken.

Question 19

What is the "central limit theorem"?

A) The middle case in your sample
B) A normal distribution is more likely the larger the sample size
C) The average number of responses
D) The confidence you have in your findings representing the population

Question 20

"A process of deriving conclusions about a population on the basis of data describing a probability sample". What is bring described here?

A) Statistical inference
B) Generalisability
C) Random sampling
D) Central limit theorem

Question 21

Which of the following will influence our choice of sampling techniques?

A) Research question
B) Research objective
C) Practicality
D) All of the above

Question 22

Snowball sampling can help the researcher to ________.

A) Access difficult or hidden populations
B) Overcome the problem of not having an accessible sampling frame
C) Theorise inductively in a qualitative study
D) All of the above

Question 23

What effect does increasing the sample size have upon the sampling error?

A) It reduces the sampling error
B) It increases the sampling error
C) It maintains the sampling error, regardless of other variables
D) It has no effect on the sampling error

Question 24

"Dominic's sampling strategy assumes 95% confidence, with a margin of error of 3%. His findings indicate 56% of women returners to work are dissatisfied with childcare provision." What is the likely percentage of dissatisfied women in the population?

A) 95 - 98%
B) 53 - 59%
C) 56 - 59%
D) It is impossible to tell

Question 25

Which of the following should NOT influence your choice of sample size?

A) Confidence needed in findings
B) Accuracy required
C) Reliability of findings
D) Categories needed for analysis

Question 26

"The organisation in Simon's study has a workforce of 2000. His calculations show that to be 95% sure that his findings are within 5% of the population average he needs a sample size of 322. He prepares and sends 322 questionnaires." What has Simon done wrong?

A) He has accepted too large a margin of error
B) His confidence interval should be smaller
C) He has not taken into account non-response
D) His sample frame is flawed

Question 27

Which of these is a possible reason for non-response?

A) Respondent refusal
B) Ineligibility of respondent
C) Inability to locate respondent
D) All of the above

Question 28

"Total number of responses divided by the total number in the sample (not including those that are ineligible and unreachable." What is being described here?

A) Active response rate
B) Eligible response rate
C) Non-response rate
D) Total response rate

Question 29

In order to calculate your actual sample size, you need to estimate the response rate you expect to get.

Question 30

Which of these is NOT a stage in simple random sampling?

A) Use a random number generator
B) Randomly select cases to make up your sampling frame
C) Ensure your sampling frame is complete
D) Number each case in your sampling frame

Question 31

You have decided to construct a probability sample and your population can be divided into geographical areas. Assuming geography is relevant to your research question, which of these sampling techniques should you use?

A) Cluster
B) Convenience
C) Stratified
D) Random

Question 32

"Dimitrious wants to measure customer satisfaction with queuing times in a large supermarket." Why should he NOT use a probability sampling technique?

A) He cannot generalise
B) He cannot get access to a sample easily
C) He is working with an unknown population
D) He needs a more heterogeneous sample

Question 33

Periodic patterns in sampling frames mean that systematic sampling will produce a biased sample.

Question 34

Which of these is an advantage of "stratified random sampling"?

A) It allows the researcher to choose critical cases from the population
B) It means the groups in the sample will be in proportion to those in the population
C) You can have a smaller sample size relative to the population
D) You can use it where you do not know the population

Question 35

Multi-stage sampling is a stratified sampling technique that involves several iterations.

Question 36

Why is convenience sampling not as rigorous as other sampling strategies?

A) People are chosen to participate randomly
B) There is no structure to how or why people are chosen
C) It is not based on statistics
D) People do not give informed consent

Question 37

Comparing data generated from your sample with known characteristics of your population is called checking for ________.

A) Degrees of freedom
B) Statistical inference
C) Generalisation
D) Representativeness

Question 38

Non-probability sampling is based on the researcher's objective judgement.

Question 39

Which of the following is NOT true of non-probability sampling?

A) Probability of each case from population selected is not known
B) Cannot make statistical inferences about characteristics of population
C) You may be able to generalise about the population
D) Better than probability sampling for deductive research

Question 40

Probability sampling is more often used when adopting a case study strategy.

Question 41

What factor(s) should you take into account when determining a non-probability sample size?

A) Purpose and focus of your research
B) Generalisability
C) Non-response rate of other studies
D) Representativeness

Question 42

Data saturation refers to the point at which little or no new evidence results from respondents.

Question 43

What non-probability sampling strategy should you pursue if cases are difficult to identify?

A) Critical case
B) Typical case
C) Snowball
D) Quota

Question 44

If you have an unknown population but still wish to make statistical generalisations, which of the following sampling strategies would be best to use?

A) Simple random
B) Quota
C) Cluster
D) Convenience

Question 45

Which of the following are NOT criteria for the selection of stratification variables in stratified sampling?

A) The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive so that every population element should be assigned to one and only one stratum
B) Across the strata, the elements should be as heterogeneous as possible
C) Stratifications variables should not be closely related to the characteristic of interest
D) Stratification variables should be easy to measure and apply

Question 46

"Sunitha does not have a list of all a bank's customers but wants to find the most important reasons for purchasing credit card insurance across all that bank's customer groups." Which sampling strategy would be most appropriate?

A) Heterogeneous
B) Homogenous
C) Cluster
D) Critical case

Question 47

You should never combine different sampling methods in your research.

Question 48

Maximum variation sampling can be useful because ________.

A) It maximises response rate from significant people
B) It allows generalisation
C) It covers more of the population
D) Any patterns that emerge are likely to be significant

Question 49

A focus on research findings that are "illustrative" of a problem calls for which sampling strategy?

A) Critical case
B) Typical case
C) Extreme case
D) Self-selection

Question 50

Statistical analysis can usually be performed on a quota sample provided there ________.

A) Are 30 or more responses
B) Are 100 or more responses
C) Is no more than 10% non-response
D) Are no heterogeneous categories