Exam 5: Selecting Research Participants

Typically,researchers plan to generalize their results to the entire group of individuals defined by their specific interests.This entire group is called

A class consists of 20 girls and 12 boys.The names of all the students in a class are listed on separate pieces of paper.The teacher places all the boys' names in one hat,all the girls' names in another hat and mixes them thoroughly before reaching in to draw out five names from each hat.The teacher is using

Explain why researchers feel reasonably comfortable using convenience sampling when this technique is likely to produce biased samples.

A teacher obtains a sample of children from a 5?? grade classroom by randomly selecting the 3??,5??,and 8?? rows and taking all the students in those rows.This is an example of

Convenience sampling involves selecting individuals who are easy to get.

When a researcher does not know the exact number of individuals in the population,it is necessary to use a nonprobability sampling method.

Psychology majors at the state college consist of 40 percent males and 60 percent females.The psychology department is conducting a survey of its majors and obtains a sample by randomly selecting a group of 20 males and a group of 30 females from the list of majors.What kind of sampling is used in this example?

Under what circumstances is a proportionate stratified random sample the most appropriate sampling method?

A researcher would like to examine the political attitudes for students at a local university.The researcher will evaluate a sample of 200 students but would like to be sure that the ages and genders of individuals in the sample accurately represent the ages and genders for the entire student body at the university.What would be the best sampling method for the researcher to use?

Describe the basic distinction between probability sampling and nonprobability and explain why most psychology research uses nonprobability methods.

Simple random sampling without replacement means that the likelihood of selecting one specific individual will depend on which other individuals are selected for the sample.

A researcher asks students to sign up for a research study and then selects the first 15 males and 15 females who sign up.The researcher is using

Stratified random sampling is used instead of simple random sampling when a researcher wants to ensure that the sample has specified characteristics.

It is always necessary to have at least 25-30 participants in a study.

Under what circumstances is a stratified random sample the most appropriate sampling method?

Stratified and proportionate stratified sampling both involve selecting individuals from predetermined subgroups in the population.

A researcher wants to obtain a sample of 30 preschool children consisting of 10 two-year-old children,10 three-year-old,and 10 four-year-old children.Assuming that the children are obtained from local daycare centers,this researcher should use

A researcher would like to describe and compare the attitudes of four different ethnic groups of students at a local state college.To obtain participants for the study,the researcher should probably use _____.

A researcher would like to select a sample of 50 people so that five different age groups are equally represented in the sample.Assuming that the researcher does not know the entire list of people in the population,which sampling technique should be used?

In most research situations,the researcher does not have a list of all the individuals in the population and,therefore,must use ___________ sampling.