Saqib Shahzad MBR/ARM General guidelines

Sampling Technique
Following things are to be considered before deciding upon the sample size with appropriate
sampling technique.

First the researcher needs to identify the population frame.

1. If population frame or population of the study is known

a. Then go for the probability sampling
i. At least 10 or 20% of the pupation should be taken as the sample size.
b. Probability sampling has two major categories
i. Simple Random Sampling (Unrestricted)
1. In simple random sampling the researcher selects the sample size
from the total population randomly (20% of the population i.e if
total population is 1000 the 20% would be 200) so the researcher
needs to draw 200 respondents from 1000 randomly and collect
data from those respondents.
ii. Complex Probability Sampling (Restricted)
1. There are five most common designs
a. Systematic sampling
b. Stratified sampling
i. Proportionate stratified random sampling
ii. Disproportionate stratified random sampling
c. Cluster sampling
d. Area sampling
e. Double sampling

Note: Based on the above sampling techniques the researcher is in the best position to decide
about the sampling technique for drawing appropriate sample size from the population.

2. If population frame or population of the study is unknown

If the situation is such that the researcher finds it impossible to know the exact number or
figure of population then the researcher should go for the non-probability sampling. Now
when the researcher decides to go for non-probability sampling then the researcher
should opt for convenient based sampling. i.e let us say a sample of 200 or 300 is selected
for convenience and then the data is collected from those number of respondents from the
population.
Note: these notes have been prepared for the sake of easily understanding the techniques to
be used. There might be variation from the perspective of different experts. But the purpose of
developing such notes is to elaborate the sampling techniques for the students BBA and MBA
when they study Methods in Business Research or Advance research methodology course.