Good Example Of What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Stratified Random Sampling? Essay

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of simple random sampling ?
Random sampling is realized by a random choice of samples within the whole population. For nursing research, this can be a random choice of patients for some research among the patients, for instance by ID numbers. The random sampling is recognized as highly representative as the samples (or respondents) present the properties of the population (Le & Holmes, 2012).
However, it can be realized only if the list of all representatives of the population is available, for example, the research about the blood pressure among the patients of the clinic. If the same data are required about all people of the region, the random sampling cannot be applied since the clinic does not have the necessary data. Gathering data from all the clinics in the region is time-consuming and cost-intensive (Burns & Grove, 2005).

The stratified random sampling is sampling from a certain (identifiable) group. The advantage of the method is possibility to choose samples or respondents with certain characteristics (gender, age, diagnosed with a specified decease, etc.) by analyzing the available data (the patients’ medical records). This allows describing and analyzing not only the whole population characteristics, but also characteristics by category (Polit & Beck, 2008).
The disadvantages of the method are the following: it is time-consuming, and requires careful choice of the categories for the proper representation of the population (Le & Holmes, 2012).
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of convenience sampling?
The convenient sampling is based on the researcher's decision, expertise and judgment. It is cost- and time-effective, easy to perform. However, the results produced may not be representative, and cannot be extrapolated for the whole population (Fitzpatrick & Kazer, 2006).
Thus, the biased results, misinterpretation of data can be performed and the incomplete conclusions can be made. It is applicable when researchers do not need generalization to the whole population.

Which sampling method is the best in nursing research?

The choice of the sampling method depends on research aims. If a research aims to study the whole population, the random sampling applies. In case the categorical characteristics are needed, the stratified sampling is used. When one needs to assess the characteristics of the constrained group, the convenient sampling is the best choice (Wood, Kerr & Brink, 2006).

References

Burns, N., & Grove, S. K. (2005). The practice of nursing research: Conduct, critique, and utilization. St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier/Saunders.
Fitzpatrick, J. J., & Kazer, M. W. (2006). Encyclopedia of nursing research. New York: Springer Pub.
Le, M. A., & Holmes, S. (2012). Introduction to nursing research: Developing research awareness. London: Hodder Arnold.
Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2008). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Wood, M. J., Kerr, J. C., & Brink, P. J. (2006). Basic steps in planning nursing research: From question to proposal. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.