I am conducting a qualitative study that uses interviews to investigate the perceptions of teachers about a particular leadership practice and I am focusing on 3 schools which have a total number of 300 teachers. I work at one of the schools. I am hesitating about my sampling strategy. I considered snowball sampling or convenience sampling which are easy, time efficient and flexible. I could utilise people who have particular knowledge and experience in the area in question, which is the teachers perceptions about promotion strategies.
But I’m also thinking of limiting and controlling my sample size and focus only on senior teachers who have 10 years plus experience. For one thing they have a lot of rich input and for another I would avoid the potential bias of snowball or convenience sampling. What do you think? I would really appreciate your input. Thank you so much indeed.
Almost all qualitative sampling involves some kind of "criteria" for inclusion, so true convenience sampling is rare.
You have give good reasons for using more specific inclusion criteria, so I would recommend following that strategy,
Thanks very much, indeed. I beg your pardon, but did you mean selecting the experienced teachers only?
That is what you suggested, and if it is indeed likely to produce better data, then that is a good justification for selecting the experienced teachers only.
If you plan to recruit 300 teachers (quite a good sample size), then you might loosen a little bit your inclusion/exclusion criteria. Like that, once you do a post-hoc analysis you might actually reveal differences in different subpopulations (i.e. experienced vs unexperienced teachers).
Then again, as David says, if you have a better intuition for a more stringent population and you think that you can find 300 experienced teachers, you might also go with that, though your results will be representative then of only this group albeit with stronger evidence.
Thank you very much for your response. Sorry, 300 is the total population. Realistically, I anticipate receiving only 30-40 responses, even with optimistic projections. My main concern revolves around the sampling strategy, specifically avoiding biases associated with voluntary, convenience, and snowball sampling methods. This has motivated my decision to conduct a census of only the experienced participants, who number between 40-50. From this group, I expect that at least 15 will agree to participate.@igor
Why not including both? I.e. you'll have the 15 experienced and the 30 unexperienced teachers. You perform two analyses - pooled (both together) and separate. Of course, you'd need to assure/optimize the fact that the populations are relatively homogenous (i.e. same sex ratio, reasonable age distribution etc.), though at the same time, we all understand that screening study participants in this setting is highly difficult.
In any case, at least for the n = 15, a precise population analysis would definitely not be demanded.
Ali Alwardi
In measurement theory: Avoid sampling! - however this will drown you in "data" ... so, it's a question of what precision you wish to achieve! In practise - as always - the principle of balancing.
This was very often the first question concerning numerical recursion in my courses in process-programming. My answer was - and still are - stop when you get a useful solution!
Dear Respected Researchers, I have asked a new question. Whoever has expertise with Herzberg I would really appreciate his/her input.
Purposive Sampling (Focusing on Senior Teachers) may be the best choice for you.
Advantages: Targeting senior teachers with 10+ years of experience ensures that your sample is rich in relevant insights and experience, leading to more informed and nuanced perspectives on leadership practices. It reduces the risk of bias associated with convenience and snowball sampling by focusing on a specific, well-defined group. Disadvantages: While it’s more controlled, it may limit the diversity of perspectives, as you’ll be focusing on a specific group that might have different views than less experienced teachers. So my recommendation is as under:
Given the nature of your study and your focus on obtaining in-depth perceptions of leadership practices, purposive sampling might be the best strategy. By selecting senior teachers with significant experience, you’ll likely gather rich, informed data that will enhance the credibility and depth of your findings. This approach also allows you to mitigate the potential biases associated with snowball and convenience sampling while still being efficient and focused.
Since you’re working at one of the schools, you could start by identifying senior teachers across the three schools and conducting interviews until you reach data saturation, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the leadership practices of experienced educators.