Nonrandom sampling, also called “nonprobabilistic” or “nonprobability sampling,” is any sampling method in which the process that determines whether a member of the population is selected for inclusion in the sample is guided by a nonchance or nonrandom process. Such nonrandom processes can include the investigator choosing who to include in the sample, advertising a
One of the bigger tasks the communication researcher faces is obtaining the data to answer the research question or test the hypothesis that motivated the research in the first place. In the field of communication, data comes primarily from two sources – human beings, or some media form (which, it could be argued, ultimately are
A sample survey is a method for collecting data from or about the members of a population so that inferences about the entire population can be obtained from a subset, or sample, of the population members. As an example, it may be desired to know the average length of stay in a hospital for surgical
For describing or testing hypotheses about a population, sampling a small portion of the population is often preferable to taking a census of the entire population. Taking a sample is usually less expensive and less time-consuming than taking a census and more accurate because more effort and care can be spent ensuring that the right