Deck 21: Sampling in Qualitative Research

Question 1

Qualitative researchers use the conceptual demands of the study to select articulate and reflective informants with certain types of experience in an emergent way. What is a typical qualitative sample?

A) Large, random
B) Small, random
C) Large, nonrandom
D) Small, nonrandom

Answer 1

Small, nonrandom

Question 2

Qualitative researchers often begin with a sample where potential participants come forward and identify themselves. What type of sample is being used?

A) Convenience
B) Snowball
C) Purposive
D) Purposeful

Answer 2

Convenience

Question 3

Qualitative researchers, like quantitative researchers, sometimes ask early informants to refer to other study participants. What type of sample is being used?

A) Convenience
B) Snowball
C) Purposive
D) Purposeful

Answer 3

Snowball

Question 4

Many qualitative studies eventually evolve to selecting cases that will most benefit the study. What type of sample is being used?

A) Convenience
B) Volunteer
C) Snowball
D) Purposive

Question 5

The broad category of purposive sampling involves general goals. What is one of the broad general goals?

A) Find examples that are representative or typical of a specific group on some dimension of interest.
B) Sampling to set up the possibility of comparisons or replications across similar types of cases on a dimension of interest.
C) Find examples that are representative or typical of a broader group on some dimension of interest.
D) Sampling to set up the possibility of comparisons or replications across random cases on a dimension of interest.

Question 6

Various purposive sampling strategies have been used by qualitative researchers. What is an important purposive strategy for sampling for representativeness or comparative value?

A) Maximum variation sampling
B) Critical case sampling
C) Criterion sampling
D) Sampling politically important cases

Question 7

Although many qualitative sampling strategies unfold while in the field, purposive sampling in the sequential category involves deliberative emergent efforts. What is an example of this category of purposive sampling?

A) Opportunistic sampling
B) Reputational case sampling
C) Critical case sampling
D) Stratified purposeful sampling

Question 8

What type of sample involves selecting cases that are especially important or illustrative?

A) Critical case sampling
B) Maximum variation sampling
C) Homogeneous sampling
D) Typical case sampling

Question 9

What type of sample identifies and gains access to a case representing a phenomenon that was previously inaccessible to research scrutiny?

A) Critical case sampling
B) Criterion sampling
C) Revelatory case sampling
D) Sampling politically important cases

Question 10

What type of sample adds new cases based on changes in research circumstances or in response to new leads that develop in the field?

A) Theory-based sampling
B) Opportunistic sampling
C) Sampling confirming and disconfirmingcases
D) Sampling politically important cases

Question 11

What type of sample selects cases based on a recommendation of an expert or key informant?

A) Homogeneous sampling
B) Typical case sampling
C) Extreme case sampling
D) Reputational case sampling

Question 12

What type of sample selects cases that are intense but not extreme?

A) Typical case sampling
B) Extreme case sampling
C) Intensity sampling
D) Stratified purposeful sampling

Question 13

What type of sample occurs when only average, above average, or below average cases are selected?

A) Typical case sampling
B) Extreme case sampling
C) Intensity sampling
D) Stratified purposeful sampling

Question 14

What main qualitative tradition is theoretical sampling guided by?

A) Ethnography
B) Phenomenological studies
C) Grounded theory studies
D) Sociology

Question 15

Which type of sample may require more cases to reach data saturation?

A) Convenience sample
B) Purposive sample
C) Theoretical sample
D) Extreme case sample

Question 16

What is data saturation?

A) Sampling to the point at which new information is continually obtained
B) Sampling to the point at which new information is continually obtained with no redundancy
C) Sampling to the point at which no new information is obtained with any redundancy
D) Sampling to the point at which no new information is obtained and redundancy is achieved

Question 17

What type of researcher often uses key informants who serve as guides and interpreters of the culture?

A) Ethnographers
B) Phenomenologists
C) Grounded theory researchers
D) Sociologists

Question 18

Phenomenologists typically work with what size sample who meets the criterion of having lived the experience under study?

A) 10 or fewer
B) 11-15
C) 16-19
D) 20-30

Question 19

Grounded theory researchers typically work with what size sample?

A) 10 or fewer
B) 11-15
C) 16-19
D) 20-30

Question 20

Generalizability in qualitative research is controversial. What widely used model of generalizability involves judgments about whether findings from an inquiry can be extrapolated to a different setting or group of people?

A) Analytic generalization
B) Transferability
C) Thick description
D) Proximal similarity