Say a researcher is interested in studying college students' opinions on admission policies. The researcher wishes to obtain a fairly equal number of first year, sophomore, junior, and senior students, as recent research has shown that older students tend to be less approving of school policies in general. However, there are much fewer older (more senior) students in attendance than younger students. What kind of sampling technique might the researcher want to employ?
A) systematic sampling
B) simple random sampling
C) cluster sampling
D) proportionate stratified sampling
E) disproportionate stratified sampling

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The researcher would want to employ disproportionate stratified sampling because this method allows for intentionally oversampling or undersampling specific strata (in this case, class years) to ensure that each group is adequately represented in the sample, despite their unequal sizes in the population. This is particularly useful when the researcher wants to compare groups that are not equally represented in the population.

Say a Researcher Is Interested in Studying College Students' Opinions