Suppose you were going to conduct a survey of visitors to your campus. You want the survey to be as representative as possible.

a. How would you select the people to survey?

b. Why would that be your best method?

a) Primarily there are two types of sampling. Probability sampling and nonprobability sampling. Probability sampling refers to the sampling technique where every case in the population has an equal chance of inclusion in the sample. Thus, samples collected through probability sampling is representative of the population. Nonprobability sampling does not possess this characteristic.

Thus the researcher can employ the simplest probability sampling that is simple random sampling. Suppose the researcher want to sample 200 visitors. She can label them from 001 through 200. Now using the random number table or random number generator through software, she can select the numbers that correspond to the number within the range. She then chooses the visitors and surveys them.

b) This method ensures that every member of the population has an equal chance of selection in the sample, eliminates most bias that could result in the survey, and the result is more likely to accurately reflect the entire population.