Achieving this representativeness is not an easy task since the method employed to calculate and approach the sample will affect results considerably. This is the reason why businesses often hire professionals to perform market research studies where information about customers or workers is required, since the company will rely in this information to make decisions and it is crucial that the information gathered reflects accurately the reality of the whole population being addressed.
The degree of representativeness is often calculated by comparing the results obtained from the sample to wide-reach studies made within the target population, to see if results match.
Nevertheless, there is no concise technique to determine whether a sample is a representative one or not. Research Edition Intelligent market research surveys that uncover actionable insights. Customer Experience Experiences change the world. Deliver the best with our CX management software. Workforce Powerful insights to help you create the best employee experience. What is a representative sample? Select your respondents A representative sample could be people or even chemical substances in scientific studies that can be tested in a laboratory to analyze the result of any particular chemical reaction.
Why must you use a representative sample in research? Importance of a representative sample for practical research studies A representative sample will work in your favor to carry out successful market research. Can you imagine having to interview all the people in a country or even a city? It would sound the most impractical plan, be too complicated, and take a long time. A representative sample is a small number of people who reflect a more extensive group as accurately as possible.
Then we can apply, for example, an online survey to a sample of the population looking for it to be the most representative of our target population. We will not have better results if, for example, we send a survey without taking representativeness into account, and we do not know who answers it and if the results represent the opinion of our target audience.
If we do not have representativeness, indeed, we will have data that will not serve us at all. We must guarantee that the sample carries the characteristics that matter to us for investigation. Take into consideration that we will always have a bias in the sample because there will always be people who will not answer the survey because of various reasons or answer it incompletely.
In this case, we cannot fully obtain the data that we require. Now regarding the sample size , the larger the sample size, it is more likely to represent the broader population closely.
A large representative sample gives us greater certainty that the people included are the ones we need, and we also reduce any possible bias. Therefore, if we want to avoid inaccuracy in our surveys, we must have representative and balanced samples.
How to build a representative sample Researchers use two methods to build representative samples — Probability sampling and non-probability sampling 1. Avoid sampling errors for better representation When a sample is not representative, we will have a sampling error known as the margin of error. Example of a representative sample A group of citizens representing the whole country is designated as a nationally representative sample. Related Posts. Sampling bias in research, types, examples, and how to avoid it.
A guide to choosing the right sample partner for research. Contents Search. Representative Sample. How to cite. This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.
Bryman, A. Social research methods 2nd ed. Google Scholar. De Vaus, D. Finding a sample. In Surveys in social research. London: UCL press, Chapter 6.
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