Who Will Your Participants Be and How Will You Find Them?

Hello Qualitative Mind,

Sampling refers to who your participants will be and what data you will collect. When thinking about sampling, you need to carefully consider the inclusion/exclusion criteria for your research. In qualitative research studies, it’s fairly common to revisit the criteria you initially outlined as recruitment and data collection happens. In my opinion, it’s part of being responsive to your research. When it comes to recruitment, think about where and how will you access your ideal participants or data.

“Bias in qualitative research is a sampling strength.”

- Maria Mayan

Saldaña & Omasta (2018) describe sampling as “parameters and procedures used for selecting the specific participants for a study.” (In Qualitative Research: Analyzing Life. p. 95).

Sampling in qualitative research is so important. My mentor and former supervisor, Dr. Maria Mayan, says that nothing differentiates quantitative and qualitative methods more explicitly than the logic behind sampling.

In quantitative research, random sampling mitigates bias and the sample size is calculated based on statistical power. In qualitative research, on the other hand, we seek participants and data (e.g., documents, art, text) that can help us to deeply understand the phenomenon of interest. Michael Quinn Patton in “Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods” lists numerous sampling strategies. Not only is his list comprehensive but also a bit mind boggling.

Of all the sampling strategies I could bring up here, I’m choosing purposeful sampling because, in my opinion, it best captures the essence of sampling in qualitative research. In purposeful sampling, participants are intentionally, thoughtfully selected because they are more likely to provide insights into the phenomenon. Because who the participants are – their position, identity, experience, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health status, etc. – matters to the qualitative research purpose and objectives, they are purposefully sampled.

This is where I often bring up Maria’s quote: “Bias in qualitative research is a sampling strength.” Subjectively and deliberately sampling participants and data leads qualitative researchers down the path of richly exploring the phenomenon of interest, which leads to rich data and, dare I say, easier to write (and publish) results.

Sampling is so important, and it’s a topic I’ll be exploring in my upcoming webinar 3 Keys to Impactful Qualitative Health Research. You can sign up to watch the webinar live on March 9th, 2021 (and receive a link to the recording after) here. During the webinar, I’ll cover:

• The three keys to impactful qualitative health research (from designing to writing…)

• What you can do now to build more rigor into your qualitative health research

• The number one result to rigorous qualitative health research

Sign up, mark your calendars, print the workbook and then get ready to participate. We’ll do the rest and we look forward to seeing you there!

~ Maira