Definition
“Representative sampling” is a type of statistical sampling that allows us to use data from a sample to make conclusions that are representative for the population from which the sample is taken.
Description
Quality of life researchers often only interview a sample of people instead of a whole population (a census). This has several advantages in terms of lower costs, greater depth, and the measurement of more variables. When taking a sample of a population, however, researchers need to be sure that the sample is also genuinely representative of that group.
In many cases, quality of life researchers use convenience samples, snowball samples, or quota samples. However, these do not allow the making of any statistical inference about the population from which it is taken, as they are not based on probability theory. To come to conclusions that are representative for a population, probability sampling is required, where each member of a population has known probability of being...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bryman, A. (2008). Social research methods (2nd ed.). Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, Chapters 7 & 11.
De Vaus, D. (1996). Finding a sample. In Surveys in social research. London: UCL press, Chapter 6.
Kish, L. (1995). Survey sampling. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Levy, S., & Lemeshaw, S. (1991). Sampling of populations: Methods and applications. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Poate, C. D., & Daplyn, P. F. (1993). Data for agrarian development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 1, 2, 3,4, 7 and 8.
Treiman, D. J. (2009). Sample design and survey estimation. In Quantitative data analysis: Doing social research to test ideas. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Chapter 9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
D’Exelle, B. (2014). Representative Sample. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2476
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2476
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0752-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0753-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law