What is a disadvantage of snowball sampling?

Answer 1

There are pros and cons to snowball sampling. The pros include having access to a group of people that are difficult to get in contact with. The major con is that it is not a representative sample. This isn't a problem, you just need to be upfront about it right away in your research. Let's say I want to interview LGBTQ adolescents. There is no "master list" of this subgroup of the population. So...I go to a local LGBTQ community center and ask a few teens there if I can interview them. Then they give me the names of 3 other LGBTQ adolescents and so on. The sample is not going to be representative or generalizable to the whole population, but I have gained access to a group that I wouldn't otherwise be able to. The reason for this is that we are friends with those people who are most like ourselves. If you use snowball sampling, be prepared to defend why you chose it.

Answer 2

Snowball Sampling Advantages And Disadvantages

Answer 3

Advantages Of Snowball Sampling

Answer 4

From a statistical standpoint, Snowball sampling is imperfect because it is not a randomized method that samples the largest potential range of views/opinions and reduces the generalizability of said sample. Depending on the type of work you're doing (say, studying attitudes toward sex work in the US) you'll definitely want a random sample to try and answer your research question. Snowball sampling won't help much here.

On the other hand, if you're studying the attitudes of sex workers toward sex work, you might find snowball sampling quite handy. As a general sociological principle, using this method will probably net you more people who are similar than people who are different. In the example above, one sex worker has a greater chance of referring you to another sex worker than a person who is not a sex worker. In this way you can increase the chances you'll find more sex workers you can sample for your study. Not only does the first worker you sample know others, but s/he may also serve as your 'informant'--someone you can get you access to the population you're trying to sample. Quite handy indeed!

Nevertheless, you'll find that in most cases snowball sampling is used primarily with qualitative studies (interviews, focus groups, etc) and less with quantitative studies (surveys, etc). There are worse methods one can use to sample a population, depending on the nature of your research question, so if you're considering one method over another you might want to discuss it with your IRB or your adviser before continuing.

Hope that helps!

Answer 5

That is a hard essay i can see why you need help snowball fights are fun my kids love them. Ok let me think 1 Well maybe because you get cold toes and fingers. 2 It's a bit of an eye saw seeing were the snow has been scooped up and let gaps everywere so not so pretty as it was when first fell. 3 You never no what you are picking up when getting the snow could be some glass,nails ect that you can not see. 4 Someone might get hurt Sorry bit that is all I can think of hope iv helped a little

Answer 6

one major disadvantage is the sample representiveness of the population.