Opportunity sampling
Opportunity is essentially where we sample people who are easy to survey, as well as that they need to be available at the time of the study.
For example, if we are doing a survey of people’s opinions on a certain topic, we might go to a shopping centre and ask people who are there to be in our sample, because, perhaps, the shopping centre is the easiest place for us to find people to survey, and they are available at the time of the study.
Opportunity sampling is where we select members of the population who are easy to survey and available at the time of the study.
Advantages of opportunity sampling
- It’s by far the easiest sampling method to implement, because we just need to find people who are easy to survey and available at the time of the study (i.e. anyone off the street)
- It being easier also makes it the cheapest sampling method to implement, because we don’t need to spend time and money on finding a more representative sample of the population or getting a perfectly random sample of the population.
Disadvantages of opportunity sampling
- It is very likely to give us a biased sample, because we are only sampling people who are easy to survey and available at the time of the study, which may not be representative of the population as a whole (e.g. if we go to a shopping centre, we might only be sampling people who are from a certain area, or from a certain age group, etc.).
- It also means the sample will not be very representative of the population, because we are only sampling people who are easy to survey and available at the time of the study, which may not be representative of the population as a whole (e.g. if we go to a shopping centre, we might only be sampling people who are from a certain area, or from a certain age group, etc.).
- It can be difficult to implement, if we can’t find people who are easy to survey and available at the time of the study (e.g. if we are doing a survey on a certain topic, and we can’t find anyone who is interested in that topic or available at the time of the study).
When to use opportunity sampling
It’s only really a good idea to use opportunity sampling when either:
- We are doing a ‘preliminary’ study, and we just want to get some initial data to work with, and we don’t care about the accuracy of the results (e.g. we might be doing a survey on a certain topic, and we just want to get some initial data to work with, and we don’t care about the accuracy of the results).
- We may not have the time or resources to do a proper study using a better sampling method.
- We can use opportunity sample in conjunction with another sampling method
- For example, we may use stratified sampling to select a sample of the population, and then use opportunity sampling to only survey people from that sample who are easy to survey and available at the time.
- To get a very rough idea of the results.
flashcards
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Opportunity sampling is defined as selecting members of the population who are what? | Easy to survey and available at the time of the study. |
| What is the main advantage of opportunity sampling regarding implementation? | It’s by far the easiest sampling method to implement. |
| Why is opportunity sampling the cheapest method to implement? | Because we don’t need to spend time and money on finding a more representative or perfectly random sample. |
| What is a primary disadvantage of opportunity sampling concerning bias? | It is very likely to give us a biased sample because we only sample people who are easy to survey and available. |
| Why might an opportunity sample not be representative of the whole population? | Because it might only sample people from a certain area or age group (e.g., those at a shopping centre). |
| When might it be difficult to implement opportunity sampling? | If we can’t find people who are easy to survey and available at the time of the study. |
| When is it a good idea to use opportunity sampling for a ‘preliminary’ study? | When we just want initial data and don’t care about the accuracy of the results. |
| When might we use opportunity sampling due to lack of time or resources? | When we may not have the time or resources to do a proper study using a better sampling method. |
| How can opportunity sampling be used in conjunction with another method? | We might use stratified sampling to select a sample, then use opportunity sampling to only survey people from that sample who are easy to survey and available. |
| For what purpose might we use opportunity sampling to get a result of low fidelity? | To get a very rough idea of the results. |