Research Methods in Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management

4.4 Types of sampling

Previous sections have stressed the importance of every eligible member of a survey

population having an equal chance of selection in a sample. This is an important

principle within sampling, and, as far as possible, the market researcher must try to

ensure that this is the case if the results are to be viable. At a general level, there are

two basic types of sampling which follow this condition, which can then be sub-

divided into a number of particular types. The two basic types of sampling where the

‘equal chance’ principle applies are probability sampling and random sampling.

Before defining these, it should be remembered that often the types of sampling

procedures used are not mutually exclusive, but overlap with each other to a certain

extent. For a specific research project, it is common to find several sampling

techniques being adopted.