Convenience sampling

What is convenience sampling?

Convenience sampling is a type of non-probability sampling that is applied when the statistical sample to be formed is selected in the environment close to the researcher, without specific requirements.. The objective is to facilitate the work of the person who develops the study.

Because this sample is not expected to be representative of the population, no selection process is applied to make it up. Instead, the availability of people and the ease of accessing them are privileged. Volunteers who wish to collaborate with the study are often accepted.

Advantages and disadvantages of convenience sampling

Advantage

The advantages of using convenience sampling are as follows:

• Time is saved, since there are no rigorous requirements to be met to select the sample, which makes this phase shorter.
• It is more economical, large investments are not required to develop a study.
• It is very practical to use convenience sampling to develop pilot studies.
• Identify trends and indicate possible results that will feed the development of the final study.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of convenience sampling are as follows:

• It is not representative of the population, therefore it is not recommended to use it in cases where the development of the research requires descriptive precision.
• Because no criteria are applied to organize the sample, it is impossible to have accurate statistical results..
• As the sample selection is not random (non-probability sampling), the precision of the data is not guaranteed, nor is it possible to reach generalized or categorical conclusions. For this reason, there is a risk of statistical bias in the results.

Examples of convenience sampling

Let's suppose a manager decides to know what are the opinions about a teacher in a classroom, so he calls 5 random students to conduct a survey and compose their statistical sample in a quick and easy way.

Another example could be a researcher who decides to know what is the image that people have about a certain product, regardless of whether they are consumers or not, so it proceeds to ask a series of questions to various people on the street or in a shopping center.