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Unit 5 How to Select Research Participants

The document outlines the process of selecting research participants, emphasizing the importance of choosing a representative sample from the research population to ensure accurate results. It discusses various sampling methods, including comprehensive inventory and sampling techniques, and highlights the need for careful consideration of sample characteristics. Additionally, it provides practical examples and exercises to enhance understanding of sampling in research methodology.

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2 views

Unit 5 How to Select Research Participants

The document outlines the process of selecting research participants, emphasizing the importance of choosing a representative sample from the research population to ensure accurate results. It discusses various sampling methods, including comprehensive inventory and sampling techniques, and highlights the need for careful consideration of sample characteristics. Additionally, it provides practical examples and exercises to enhance understanding of sampling in research methodology.

Uploaded by

leenmoawad
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Unit Five: How to Select Research Participants?

After identifying a research question and reviewing scientific literature


on the topic, the next step is to address the specific steps of the research
study to obtain the required information. Therefore, discuss with your
colleagues the answers to the following questions:

- What method will you use to obtain the study sample? -


- What are the characteristics of this sample? -
- Create a timeline for the research phase and expected actions to -
answer the question.

Selecting the research population is one of the most important


methodological steps, requiring extreme precision from the researcher.
The research population includes all elements possessing the
characteristics to be studied. Answering the research question requires
testing the subject of the question on a sample of elements to obtain
data that aids in answering the question. It is essential to select a sample
representative of the research population to generalize the results.

The research population can be identified through a comprehensive


inventory of all elements comprising the research population and
excluding cases that exhibit specific characteristics, without leaving any
gap or case, such as population census research. Although this method
yields precise and error-free results, it requires considerable time, high
costs, and significant resources to implement.

Hence, when researchers find themselves unable to apply their study to


the entire target population, they resort to selecting a sample for the
study. This is where the sampling method comes into play, including two
essential criteria that must be met: first, the sample must be
representative of the original population, meaning it shares the same
characteristics as the research population. Second, all elements of the
original population must have equal opportunities for selection within
the sample.

While this method saves time, effort, and cost, research results relying
on the sampling method are subject to various errors, such as
generalization, bias, and chance errors.

Therefore, it is advisable to use the comprehensive inventory method


when the research population is small and limited, allowing access to all
its elements to collect data with minimal effort and cost possible.
Conversely, the sampling method is recommended when the research
population is very large, making it difficult to conduct the study on all its
elements with limited resources.

think:
What is the impact of selecting a sample of academically successful
students only to answer the following question: Which is better for
improving academic performance for sixth-grade students in
mathematics, giving daily homework or conducting weekly exams?

As expected, it is impossible to conduct any scientific research on all


elements of the targeted category of the research topic. Therefore, it is
necessary to select a small group from the research population for the
research to be conducted. When choosing the sample, it is essential to
specify its characteristics accurately because the characteristics of the
research population on which the study results will be generalized will
be determined based on these characteristics.

Considering the diversity of knowledge fields and types of scientific


research, sampling methods vary significantly.
Think:
What is the research population in the following question:
" What is the effect of the type of music played in stores on the amount
of purchases made by customers; comparing modern and classical
music?"

Exercise:
Write the research methodology paragraph in a scientific study and
identify the elements mentioned in this paragraph regarding the
research sample. Discuss what you have achieved with your colleagues
and note the common elements you have all identified.

Sampling Definition and Selection


Imagine you want to know the average income of families living in the
city. Consider the effort and resources required to communicate with
each family in the city to learn about their income! Instead, you can
choose a few families to be the basis of your research, and then, based
on what you discovered from a few families, you can estimate the
average income of families in the city.

Sampling: It is the process of selecting a few (sample) from a larger


group (research population) to form the basis of estimating or predicting
specific outcomes regarding the larger group. The sample is a subset or
part that is considered to represent the population that is examined or
tested and the study conducted on it.

To select samples, we follow these steps:


- Precisely determine the research objectives, enabling the researcher to
determine the type and size of the sample.
- Determine the original population, which requires knowing the
elements and factors that comprise it, including all community units.
- Select a representative sample from the population list.

Obtaining a suitable sample depends on the nature of the problems and


phenomena studied. A small sample may represent the original
population, and a large sample may be better, especially in diverse
educational and social phenomena. Therefore, it is essential to
determine the appropriate sample size to obtain accurate results for the
study.

Activity:
Conduct research on various methods of sample selection and list five of
these methods. Specify the following two methods of sample selection
in your language and mention their advantages and disadvantages:
1. Simple Random Sampling
2. Convenience Sampling

Practical Example:
Suppose you want to know the effect of an applied program on student
attendance at the University of Jordan during the first semester.
Suppose you decide to adopt a sampling method (meaning choosing a
group of students to achieve the study's objectives). In this study, there
are several aspects we deal with through terminologies, including:
Students at the University of Jordan during the first semester are -
referred to as the research population.
The students you selected to gather the required information to know -
the effect of the applied program in the first semester are called the
sample name.
The number of students you selected to gather the required -
information is called the sample size.
The method you use to select students or select the research sample is -
called the sampling method.
Each student who was part of your sample is called the sample unit or -
sample element.
The results obtained based on the information obtained from the
respondents (sample) are called sample statistics.

Discussion Issue:
The researcher attempts to answer research questions through the
research population. However, when choosing the sampling method, the
researcher obtains results based on the information obtained from the
respondents (sample), known as sample statistics. How can the
researcher answer research questions through the research sample
rather than the research population?

Professor Dr. Ferial Abu Awad


Instructor Dr. Ali Qasim AlabedAlhalim

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