Goodmorning
In a recent qualitative research, we are constructing purposeful sampling, we are thinking to use a specific scale to select a small group of participant. I think that this scale can help us (credibility criterion) is to select the participants that a specific emotional experience. How do you consider this methodological strategy? Uncommon? Should I describe this operation as a mixed method strategy?
Thank you for your attention
Kind regards
Alfonso Santarpia (Université de Sherbrooke, Canada)
In general, the idea of purposeful sampling in qualitative research is the use the information you are gathering to search out participants. The content from the interviews or observations is giving you the direction for who to interview and what to observe. In one of the studies of ICU nurses, I conducted one nurse talked about liking providing psychological care to patients but mentioned other nurses were into the physiology of the patient's problems. Still, others liked the mechanical aspect of patient care. In all I came up with 4 aspects of care that the nurses varied in their preference. I never suspected that as being choices and preferences of these nurses. The beauty of qualitative research is to come up with something new.
Thank you for your response, in our situation unfortunatelly we need of a specific psychological processus for the participants, we are looking for participant that should have a specific existential emotion. Kind regards
You can add the scale as part of pre-selection questions. Thereafter it is important to have open ended questions for the main part of the interview schedule as so to induce themes.
The objectives of a study and the characteristics of its population (e.g., size, heterogeneity) guide constructing the sampling strategy and specifying whom and how many participants to choose. Simply put, whatever convenience-sampling type and plan you follow, it should optimize the selection of willing participants who can serve to answer your study question(s), bearing in mind that saturation is often deemed the criterion in determining sample sizes in qualitative research. You might go through Moser and Korstjens (2018) for relevant practical guidance.
Moser, A., & Korstjens, I. (2018). Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 3: Sampling, data collection and analysis. Eur J Gen Pract, 24(1), 9-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13814788.2017.1375091
Good luck,
In mixed methods terminology, this would be a quant --> QUAL design, which unfortunately is not as well known as some of the other combinations in mixed methods research.
If you need a citation for this form of purposive sampling, I devoted a chapter to it my book, Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods.
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