8310 Dis 1 week 4

2

Respond to at least one of your colleagues’ posts in 125 words and explain:

· Their choice of sampling strategy

· Strategies for improving saturation

Al Lewis Initial Post

Saturation in sampling occurs when new data does not add any new information on the issue being studied (Mason, 2010). Guest et al. (2006) determined that as few as six interviews can result in saturation. Achieving an adequate sample size, enacting a qualitative study, and identifying common themes from participants’ responses, such as those centered on social change, can result in actionable results (Yob and Brewer, n.d.). Achieving saturation depends on different factors such as methodology and study design, and is a flexible number of studies (Mason, 2010). Using effective research, including a purposeful sampling strategy, can help promote positive social change (Topper, 2014). I analyzed the work of Yob and Brewer (n.d.) in order to reflect on saturation, sampling strategies, and qualitative research.

The Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study “was to explore and analyze the current state of understanding and practice around social change at one online university with geographically dispersed students and faculty (Yob & Brewer, n.d., p. 9). This purpose statement influences the methodology and sampling strategy. Since the purpose is to gain in-depth information on a specific site, a purposeful sampling strategy is a logical choice.

Research Questions

Yob and Brewer (n.d.) stated that they aimed to “get at the understandings of faculty members, students, and alumni in their experiences of social change processes and how they make meaning out of those experiences”, and follow-up research questions for resulting work were suggested by the authors (p. 9). These follow-ups include how widespread the views and understandings are within the university studied, the prevalence of these views and understandings in other universities, how traditional and online locations compare, etc. (Yob & Brewer, n.d.).

Site Selection

The site selected for this study was a single online university with students and faculty geographically dispersed. This selection influenced the selection of a purposeful sampling strategy, as it related to not only how participants were selected, but also how they were interviewed.

Purposeful Sampling Strategy

The study’s participants were selected through purposeful, referral sampling. Participants were identified by their colleagues, teachers, or mentors based on these referrers’ knowledge of the respondent’s social change activities and ability to communicate their understandings (Yob & Brewer, n.d.). This closely aligns with several of the strategies identified by Patton (2015), and could be described as being mostly similar to operational construct sampling, where a case of organizational culture is studied in communities as sociological constructs. This is a logical choice, as the location or organization being studied by Yob and Brewer (n.d.) was founded on an organizational mission of social change, and the concept is operationalized by the variety of participants.

Alternative Sampling Strategy

An alternative to the actual sampling strategy is respondent-driven sampling, which consists of selecting a small sample of initial participants and asking them to recruit three additional participants from their networks. This could also be an effective strategy, as the initial participants would have interactions with additional members of the university and with different perspectives on their ability to communicate their understandings of social change. This strategy would also align to the criteria for selecting individuals to study, relative to the purpose of the research, as the three additional respondents would inherently be from within the overall population.

Data Saturation

The authors described the data saturation in this study as both a strength and a limitation of the study. The number of respondents gathered through purposeful sampling results in representatives from the desired groups of faculty, students, and alumni, but limited the study to mostly the United States. Additionally, there was a general intent to include people of diverse demographics from different contexts. Data saturation is also relevant when considering the omittance of external communities included in the study. The authors acknowledged that including external communities would have been beyond the scope of this initial, exploratory research. In this regard, I have been considering the relevance and fluidity of data saturation depending on the study’s place among others of its kind. Is data saturation more, less, or equally important depending on how exploratory or confirming the study?

Sources

Guest, G., Bunce, A., and Johnson, L. (2006). How many Interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods 18(1), 59–82.

Mason, M. (2010). Sample size and saturation in PhD studies using qualitative interviews. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 11(3)

Patton, M. Q. (2015). Chapter 5, Module 30: Purposeful sampling and case selection: Overview of strategies and options. In Qualitative research and evaluation methods (4th ed., pp. 264–315). Publications.

Topper, C. (2014). Christin Topper, PhD student, bringing the natural world to Hong Kong [Video file].

Yob, I., & Brewer, P. (n.d.). Working toward the common good: An online university's perspectives on social change, 1-25.