I got many comments from reviewers that my sample is considered a convenience sample (easy to reach). In my opinion, convenience does not mean non representative. It is normal if a group of researchers work in a medical hospital, they get the sample from that hospital especially if it a big one.
Hi Heba - you are correct in your context. There is nothing wrong if you chose a convenience sample from your hospital if you only want the results to be generalisable to your hospital. All large hospitals have their unique nuances that mean that what you have found in your survey, may not be representative or generalisable to other hospitals or related clinical settings. If your manuscript is claiming generalisability to the wider hospital population outside yours - I imagine that is why the reviewers are making the comments about the limitations of convenience sampling in your case of a more defined, local sample population.
A Convenient Sample results cannot be made applicable, because of changes in the variables, in the general public.
Results & outcomes are restricted to a smaller community.
Convenience sampling technique has advantages and disadvantages; you can find them easily in any research book or online.
However, when to use in an acceptable way is the important issue that makes the reviewer accept it as a sampling design. I can summarize important points here for its suitability: if the study is a new {relatively} new to the field or the setting; when the sample size is large and representative; and if random sampling is difficult in relation to the topic or setting.
I agree with Ali Montazeri that it limits the generalizability of the study.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Psychology