PSY 313 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Quota Sampling, Sampling Bias, Bulimia Nervosa
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Population- the large group of individuals that the researcher is interested in. Sample- small set of individuals who participate in the study. Target population- group defined by the researcher"s interests. Ex- children of divorced parents, adolescents with bulimia. Representativeness- how closely the sample mirrors the population. Must have a representative sample to be able to generalize the results to the population. Biased sample- characteristics are noticeably different from those of the population. Usually a result of selection bias/sampling bias- the sampling procedure favors the selection of some individuals over others. Sample size: larger samples are usually more representative than smaller samples. Law of large numbers- the larger the sample size, the more likely the values obtained from the sample will be similar to the values for the population . Ethics- if too many subjects are used, it can be viewed as unethical to use the extra participants. Sampling- the process of selecting individuals for a study.
