Selecting Research Participants — Sampling Methods, Bias, and Representativeness Explained | Chapter 5 of Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences
Selecting Research Participants — Sampling Methods, Bias, and Representativeness Explained | Chapter 5 of Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences Chapter 5 of Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences examines the crucial process of selecting participants for research studies. Sampling is at the core of psychological research because it determines whether findings can be generalized from a small group to an entire population. This chapter outlines different sampling strategies, their strengths and weaknesses, and the importance of representativeness in behavioral science research. Watch the complete breakdown above and subscribe to Last Minute Lecture for more structured chapter summaries. Populations, Accessible Populations, and Samples Researchers rarely study an entire population. Instead, they identify an accessible population from which a sample is drawn. A sample must accurately represent the target population to avoid selection bias and sampling error , w...