Sampling for quantitative and qualitative studies

Sampling for Quantitative and Qualitative Studies

From your studies thus far, you know that, by and large, sample selection methods for quantitative research are all about selecting random, unbiased participants from your study population. But when using qualitative methodologies, sample selection is often anything but random. Qualitative methodologies often use purposive sampling, where test subjects are carefully selected from the study population based on specific characteristics, such as special knowledge that they might possess, unique situations that they might have experienced, specific positions that they might hold, or even particular viewpoints that they might have expressed.

For this discussion, answer the following questions:

• Why is purposive sampling acceptable for qualitative research, while it is not generally accepted for quantitative research studies? (1 para)
• What does the qualitative researcher gain through purposive sampling, and what do they give up compared to random sampling? (1 para)
• If purposive sampling works so well for qualitative researchers, why don’t quantitative researchers use it as well?(1 para)
• Under what circumstances might a qualitative researcher decide to use random sampling instead of purposive sampling? (1 para)