Choosing cases and quality of research. Some methodological remarks

There are two ways of sampling in social research In purposive way of sampling you can indicate on some problems, mechanisms which are significant and important for certain issue. It is characteristic for qualitative research. Probability samplingNonprobability sampling Big sampleSmall sample Few variables (determinants) A lot of variables (determinants) Selective approachComprehensive approach Statistical generalizationAnalitical generalization

Nonpurposive sampling – units of observation chosen according to researchers subjective assessment. They can be: most useful for research purposes OR they shuold reflect features of the whole population Choosing a case can be fully political decision, key issue: how are we drawing conclusions of that. If you want to generalize your conclusions on whole population you need to know answer to the question: - How typical is this certain case? - What is specific about given case?

Key points an questions According to research goals what is more adviceable: - to choose typical/everage cases? - to choose extreme (positive/negative) cases? Whatever the aswer will be before generalize your conclusions it is necessary to assess how typical/special the case in the context of the whole population.