1. What makes an effective sample survey?
Sample Surveys
What makes an effective sample survey?

2. Features of an effective Sample Survey
“A good sample is a miniature version of the population – just like it, only smaller.” Fink 1995.
Sampling is necessary when the entire “population” you are interested is too big to survey
“population” could mean Clydebank, Scotland, Ethnic groups, crime victims etc etc
Generalisations are made about the “population” so sample needs to ‘reflect’ that population

3. Features of an effective Sample Survey
For the general population as a whole, the sample should reflect main characteristics of the census
The sample method may vary depending on your “population” – e.g. prisoners: questionnaire; young people: internet survey etc

4. When making up sample, need to consider….
size of sample compared with ‘population
age group
gender
type of housing
occupation
social class
household income
highest educational qualification obtained
time and place that survey is carried out.

5. Examples
Cluster sampling
Systematic sampling
Stratified sampling