Today I attended another conference of field study presentations. Something that stuck out to me in the first presentation was sampling. This presenter knew a lot about how to correctly sample a population. She was able to distinguish flaws in certain types of sampling and even realized flaws within her own project. That makes me think because I want to make sure that as I gather information it is done in an unbiased manner. This presenter had taken a class about sampling, so that gave her an edge above a lot of people. What do I need to do to understand sampling better? Are we going to talk about it in class? If my research is going to be counted as valid, I will need to sample right so that I can apply the results to more than just the individuals I am talking to, but apply it to a larger population. This will be important because my data will be much more quantitative and in order for it to be accepted, it must be gathered in a reasonable manner.
Some options: find this sampling class that this presenter attended and listen to some of the lectures, look online for correct ways to sample, talk with previous researchers about how to properly select individuals. For my project, I will most likely be able to talk with a lot of people and will either need to build quick rapport, if any at all. I am still determining the method of gathering my information but it might be a quick interview or a questionnaire. Either, way I need to learn about some alternative sampling methods. I may need to learn a few methods so that if my project isn't working as planned I can switch methods. Sounds like a new topic for me to start reviewing online to help the success of my research topic!
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