Ok, I'm trying to define the sample population for my PhD but I'm a bit lost.
Assuming that I'm doing research on students behavior on Faculty of X (e.g. Economics). Would it be enough to just get the sample from Faculty X in Uni A or do I need to get other students from different Unis as well to avoid bias? Also, would it be necessary as well to get students from other Faculties that's related to X (e.g Engineering that uses Economics or Applied Mathematics that uses Economics - to get more meaningful data
Many thanks
Dan
Sampling frame depends on the question you are trying to answer. If you want a generalised view of Economics students' behaviour then it may be inappropriate to just sample from one uni. But if you're primarily interested in one uni then one faculty in one uni is fine (unless you want a comparison/control group)
So have a clearly defined research qu first, and then your sampling frame should reflect that.
Some biases are universal but some biases depend on the question being asked.
For example, if the qu is
"Are students in Dept X happier than those in Dept Y at Uni Z?"
then only sampling students in Dept X and Dept Y at Uni Z is totally appropriate
but if the qu is
"Are students who study X happier than those who study Y?"
Then yes, you could get biases from only studying one uni, and there would be a limit to how far you could generalise your findings.
So, first explicitly define your research question, THEN work out the sampling frame.
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