Marketing Research for Managers, 3rd Edition

7	Who provides the information?

7.1	Introduction
7.2	What is a sample?
7.3	Why use a sample?
7.4	How is the sample selected?
7.5	How big does the sample need to be?
7.6	Summary

7.1 Introduction

This chapter is concerned with sampling: the process of actually selecting those individuals whose views will be collected in the survey in order to be representative of the whole group whose views are being sought. Good sampling practice is the key to the ability of large-scale quantitative surveys to represent the views of the population being studied to a known and calculable degree of accuracy. Sampling theory has at its heart probability theory and it is on probability theory that the validity of large-scale surveys rests. ...