Doing Sociology: Research Methods — Sociology STD 11 Humanities — Question

Some of the criteria involved in selecting a representative sampling are:

1. The representative sampling is done in such a way that it represents and recognises all the relevant groups of the particular community.

For example if the lifestyle of working women in India has to be studied then five samples would be collected, each from the organized sector and unorganized sector. Then the combined study is conducted on the basis of these samples.

2. These samples are randomly selected, that is, they are to be selected on the basis of chance. This process is known as randomisation and depends on probability. The randomisation is done through lottery method, rolling of dice, use of random number tables prepared for this purpose and random number generated by calculators and computers.