Reference no: EM131549139

Question: Although convenience sampling is easy and less expensive, due to its generalization component, it may prohibit the researcher from getting an accurate representation of the population needed for the study. Robinson (2014) asserts a researcher typically locates a nearby source of potential participants who are convenient in their proximity and willingness to participate and are in all likelihood not a random cross-section of the sample universe. This is called convenience sampling. It is used in quantitative research and sometimes in qualitative research too.

It proceeds by way of locating any convenient cases who meet the required criteria and then selecting those who respond on a first-come-first-served basis until the sample size quotient is full. However, the problem or limitation of using this approach in quantitative research is that statistics function on the basis that samples are random, when they are typically not. For qualitative research, the danger of convenience sampling is that if the sample universe is broad, unwarranted generalizations may be attempted from a convenience sample. As a result, one of the most important and salient limitations in convenience sampling is its inherent bias, due to its generalizations of samples.