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Cognition and BehaviourResearch MethodsSamplingStratified Sampling

AQA GCSE · Question 25.1 · Cognition and Behaviour

Read the following information.

A researcher wanted to investigate whether physical exercise affected the mental well-being of firefighters.
He used stratified sampling to select 10 participants from a local fire department. He asked each participant to keep a diary for one month. Participants were asked to record the amount of exercise they completed each day. They were also asked to record a daily mental well-being score using the scale shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Mental well-being rating scale
(Table shows a Likert-type scale for statements like 'I have felt confident', 'I have felt relaxed', etc., scored from 5 'All of the time' to 1 'None of the time'.)

Outline one strength of using a stratified sample when conducting research.

How to approach this question

First, recall the definition of stratified sampling (dividing the population into sub-groups and sampling proportionally from each). Then, think about why a researcher would go to the trouble of doing this. The main goal is to create a sample that accurately reflects the population. Explain this benefit.

Full Answer

One strength of using a stratified sample is that it is more representative of the target population than other methods like opportunity sampling. This is because the sample is constructed to reflect the proportions of people in different sub-groups (strata) within the population, which helps to reduce sampling bias and allows for more accurate generalisations to be made.
Stratified sampling is a sophisticated sampling method. The researcher first identifies relevant sub-groups (strata) in the target population (e.g., for firefighters, this could be age groups, years of service, or different roles). Then, they work out the proportion of the population that falls into each stratum. Finally, they recruit participants in the same proportions for their sample. The main advantage of this is that it creates a highly representative sample, meaning the findings are more likely to be generalisable to the target population than if a less systematic method, like grabbing the first 10 firefighters available (opportunity sampling), was used.

Common mistakes

Confusing stratified sampling with other types like random or systematic sampling. Stating the strength without explaining it.
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