Dear All,
Hope you are staying safe and sound.
I`m conducting a quantitative research in my PhD to test and validate a conceptual framework that has been developed based on the data from 26 interviews. I`m struggling with finding participants to fill the survey for the quantitative phase of my PhD as the inclusion criteria are too specific and narrow. I`m looking for social entrepreneurs who are either Co/founder, CEO, or managing director of social enterprises in Australia and use online communities related to their enterprise. I know that generally, it is said that I need to find at least 100 and preferably 150 participants for the quantitative research, however, it is a very difficult and challenging task for me to reach these numbers considering my limited time and resources.
I would appreciate if you could let me know how I can justify a sample size with between 50-70 participants and whether it is justifiable or not in a mixed-method research, in which interviews are the main data collection tool.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
You could change your research to purely qualitative if you cannot get enough respondents. However, you could also use the t-test for small sample sizes.
This question was previously asked on ResearchGate, refer to the link:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Which_statistical_tests_do_you_apply_for_small_samples_less_than_30_sampling_units
Muayyad Ahmad suggested that you use the Mann-Whitney U-test if you want to compare 2 groups means and the Kruskal-Wallis H test for 3 groups or more!
Dear Behnam Abedin you are very close to your answer. I suggest you to discuss with your supervisor.
1. What is your population?
2. You can check krejcie and morgan table.
3. 50 or 70 real data is enough if you can prove that your respondents have many constraints. you have to have the latest citation about your population and your respondent nature. Then it is fine.
Please find attached this book on sample size. I hope it helps.
There are some responses from the link below
https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_determine_sample_size_in_quantitative_research
Best Wishes,
If that happens, it is a case study and for it you don't need tho have a big sample.
Be careful, you cannot test anything using qualitative methods! However if you change your research questions to how and why do....... qualitative approaches are very appropriate.
Your research design will obviously have to change. However sample size is much less important than what is called theoretical saturation- not encountering new things in your data. If your sample is very small, say 4 or 5, these have to be detailed case studies rather than just interviews. Typically, and based on accepted practice rather than methodological rigour, aim for no less than 20 interviews. With a mixed methodology, you could have a good study that first asks why and how qualititatively then operationalises your answers with a survey to see frequency and different patterns.
Final advice, understand the very significant differences in the ontologies and epistemologies; do not confuse them in designing the study.
Hi Behnam Abedin, you may consider using G*Power, a free power analysis program, to calculate your minimum sample size. Following is the reference article, download link and learning video. Hope it would help.
1. Reference article
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G* Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior research methods, 41(4), 1149-1160.
2. Software Download (Windows and Mac)
https://www.psychologie.hhu.de/arbeitsgruppen/allgemeine-psychologie-und-arbeitspsychologie/gpower.html
3. YouTube: Using G*Power to Determine Sample Size
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZZxFD5JaCY
Dear Professor Hermann Gruenwald ,
Unfortunately, Professor Alistair has, recently, passed away.
http://entrepreneurship-erd.com/in-memoriam-alistair-anderson/
Best regards,
what article can i cite to justify that 150 respondents are a good sample size for qualitative research study ?
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