Free Essay on Piloting and Sampling

According to Reinharz and Lyn (1992), before a study begins, there is the need to test it on a pilot sample from the target population to equip the researcher with the knowledge of whether the respondents understand the questions and instructions. In a pilot survey the same procedures have to be used in the primary study for consistency purposes. Sampling for the major survey would depend on the survey research, and this is critical because it is not possible to conduct a study on the whole population and therefore sample is appropriate for most of the research surveys. Regardless of the sampling method used to sample, it must always be a representative of the whole population for it to be valid; otherwise, the whole study would be biased. Random sampling is mostly preferred particularly for quantitative methods and allows for generalization of the population based on the sample studies.

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Reference page

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